Samsung sues Australia

Samsung has issued summons against Australia. In court papers Samsung claims that certain patents between 2009 and 2010 were incorrectly granted by Australia, to Apple, or in the words of Samsung ‘ultra vires’, basically outside the authority of the Australian patent office.

The patents are:
2006330724 – Unlocking a device by performing gestures on an unlock image (Granted April 1, 2010)
2007283771 – Portable electronic device for photo management (Granted May 20, 2010)
2008201540 – List scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touch-screen display (Granted February 11, 2010)
2009200366 – List scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touch screen display (Granted July 23, 2009)

In the USA the two companies are also involved in extensive legal wrangles as Apple this past week filed for a US injunction against the launch of Samsung’s latest smartphone, the Galaxy S3.