Samsung attempts to legally access Apple’s iOS source code

Being a giant business in South Korea, Samsung certainly, let’s put it mildly, feels “at home” in local courts. No wonder they’ve successfully won a number of law suits against their biggest rival-Apple.

The latest spin of the ongoing legal wars between the two rivals comes after the battle with Apple on alleged infringement on a patent. Samsung now claims they need to see the iOS source code in order to actually prove that such infringement did take place.

Naturally, Apple calls this plea ‘insane’ and ‘ridiculous,’ and strongly refuses. The court has asked if Apple could provide software designers and engineers from the iOS team for testimony, but Apple has refused this request, too.

In return, Samsung claims that Apple’s Notification Center — a feature that bears strong resemblance to a similar feature implemented on many Android phones — infringes on one of its own patents. Apple’s attorneys have however stated that this technology was widely used in other companies’ phones before it appeared on Samsung devices, and that if anyone should be claiming patent rights over it, this is Google.

To defend their claim, Samsung stated in court that it patented the technology in 2006 — years before any implementations appeared on Samsung phones, and five years before Apple began including it with iOS 5. Apple has refuted the claim.

Now, everybody’s expecting the decision of the court on this latest matter of dispute.

Meanwhile, Samsung is currently being investigated by the European Commission, by the US International Trade Commission and by the South Korea’s own Fair Trade Commission for various infringements of other companies’ patents. They are also accused of abusing certain standards-essential patents (SEPs) by using them as legal weapons to hinder competition rather than license them fairly and equally as the law requires.

Source: Electronista