Apple-Samsung US lawsuit 'going to be huge' - expert

Apple's latest lawsuit against Samsung focuses on 17 products and is going to be "huge", it has been claimed.

Patent expert Florian Mueller, writing on his Foss Patents blog, said that Apple though the lawsuit involves eight patents, it only focuses on four in the preliminary injunction.

The preliminary injunction - in which Apple is bidding to have sales of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus blocked - argues that four of Apple's patents have been infringed and focuses on just one product.

One of the patents relates to a "universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system", another to "missed telephone call management for a portable multifunction device", the third to a "graphical user interface using historical lists with field classes" and the final one to "asynchronous data synchronization amongst devices".

The reason for Apple concentrating on these four patents is to enhance the chances of a quick hearing, Mueller said. "For the preliminary injunction bid, Apple had to focus on patents that can succeed on the fast track, where the judge only has limited time to understand a patent and the parties' related arguments," Mueller wrote.

However, the patent infringement lawsuit Apple has brought relates to four more patents and at least sixteen other products, including the Samsung Galaxy S II, the Galaxy Nexus, the Exhibit II 4G, the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, the Galaxy Tab 8.9 and versions 4.0 and 5.0 of the Galaxy Player.

Saying that the complaint is a "huge" one, Mueller notes that Apple has taken a very different approach than in previous patent infringement lawsuits against Samsung.

"Apple's complaint is very concise. Last year's complaint against Samsung had a lot of (very well-crafted) narrative on Samsung's alleged copying of Apple's products. The new complaint doesn't have to repeat much of that. It basically just explains that the alleged problem has exacerbated, and brings new claims," Mueller wrote.

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