Samsung Files Additional Patent Lawsuit Against Apple in Seoul

Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) said it filed an additional patent lawsuit against Apple Inc. (AAPL) in Seoul, deepening a global legal dispute between the world’s two largest smartphone makers.

Samsung filed the suit yesterday, claiming Apple’s iPhone 4S and iPad 2 infringed patents related to mobile-phone technologies for features such as displaying user interface and short messages, Nam Ki Yung, a spokesman for the Suwon, South Korea-based company said by phone today.

The latest case in Samsung’s local market adds to the dispute the two companies have been locked in globally since the iPhone maker said in an April suit that the South Korean company’s Galaxy devices copied its products. Samsung had previously filed a separate patent suit against Apple in Seoul.

Steve Park, a Seoul-based Apple spokesman, declined to comment on the new Seoul case.

Samsung earlier today denied a Wall Street Journal report that Apple offered to settle some pending litigation in exchange for royalty payments. The two companies both lost patent cases against each other in a court in Mannheim, Germany on March 2.

Samsung edged out Apple as the top smartphone seller last year, according to an estimate from Strategy Analytics.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jun Yang in Seoul at jyang180@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Tighe at mtighe4@bloomberg.net