Samsung Drops Counter-Suit Against Apple in California

Samsung Electronics Co. dropped a patent-infringement suit against Apple Inc. (AAPL), filed at a U.S. federal court in April in response to allegations its Galaxy products copied the iPhone and iPad.

Samsung Electronics dropped the suit on June 30 “to streamline the legal proceedings,” Nam Ki Yung, a spokesman for the Suwon, South Korea-based company, said today in a telephone interview. Samsung will continue to defend its patent rights through a counter-claim in an earlier suit Apple filed at the same court in San Jose, California, he said.

Litigation between the two companies, which compete in the mobile-device market, is under way in at least five countries including South Korea, Japan, Germany and the U.K. Withdrawal of the California suit won’t affect other U.S. cases or patent- violation complaints Samsung raised against Apple in other countries, Nam said.

“Samsung will continue to actively defend and protect our intellectual property,” he said. Samsung is the world’s second- largest maker of mobile phones.

Steve Park, a Seoul-based Apple spokesman, declined to comment when called by Bloomberg News today.

Cupertino, California-based Apple sued Samsung at the San Jose court in April, alleging Galaxy phones and tablet computers “slavishly” copy the iPhone and iPad. Samsung, which supplies memory chips to Apple, responded with counter-suits.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bomi Lim in Seoul at blim30@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Tighe at ptighe@bloomberg.net