Samsung is suing Apple on ten counts of patent infringement in separate complaints filed in Seoul, Korea; Tokyo, Japan and Manheim, Germany.
The complaints, filed Thursday, came just two days after Apple filed a lawsuit alleging that Samsung’s Galaxy products “slavishly copy” the iPhone and iPad.
“Samsung is responding actively to the legal action taken against us in order to protect our intellectual property and to ensure our continued innovation and growth in the mobile communications business,” the company said in a statement.
Samsung did not specify which patents were implicated in the suit, but Reuters reports that the patents cover power reduction during the transmission of mobile data; technology for reducing errors in data sent over a 3G network; and more general technology covering how data is sent over wireless networks.
The line of Android-based Galaxy S smartphones have been well received by U.S. consumers. Smartphones from the company’s Galaxy S lineup are carried by many of the country’s Tier 1 and Tier 2 carriers, from Verizon Wireless to Cellular South.
Like Apple’s products and many other devices on the market, Samsung’s Galaxy S smartphones and Galaxy Tab tablet are rectangular, have rounded corners and employ a touchscreen with a virtual keyboard instead of a physical QWERTY keyboard. Apple has not said whether it plans to sue other companies whose products employ design elements similar to its own.
It’s not clear how the lawsuits between Apple and Samsung will effect the companies’ business relations. Apple uses many components manufactured by Samsung in its products, including chips and LCD displays.
