There’s no surprise, here. Although Apple settled its patent disputes with HTC, it continues to “go thermonuclear” against Samsung. On Friday night, Apple added six more Samsung devices to its ongoing California patent lawsuit against Samsung.
Apple added six recently released or upgraded Samsung products to its complaint against Samsung. The devices are the Galaxy S III running Jelly Bean (Android 4.1 / 4.2), the Galaxy Note II, the Galaxy Tab 8.9 (wi-fi), the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, the Rugby Pro and the Galaxy S III mini.
Apple is adding these devices which have either been introduced after Apple’s last supplement to its complaint or because they received OS upgrades. The Galaxy S III, for one, had already been added by Apple, but this addition includes the Galaxy S III running Jelly Bean.
The Samsung Galaxy Note II was first released on Oct. 24 and rolled out to additional carriers earlier this month.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 wi-fi had been previously in Apple’s complaint, but with the Honeycomb OS (Android 3.x); on Thursday it received its update to Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0), which is why Apple wanted to update its complaint.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 which was released with the Ice Cream Sandwich operating system with various carriers beginning Nov. 9, 2012, and most recently on Nov. 21, 2012.
The Samsung Rugby Pro was released on Oct. 21. The Samsung Galaxy S III Mini, which has yet to be released in any carrier-subsidized form in the U.S, but which Apple — and we — discovered earlier this week is now offered for sale in the United States (in unlocked form).
This follows closely Samsung’s latest supplement to its own complaint against Apple. Late Wednesday, Nov. 22, Samsung brought a motion to include three Apple products that were unavailable the prior time the Korean giant made a supplemental filing (Oct. 1): the iPad 4 and iPad mini, and the fifth generation iPod touch.
The jury trial for Apple vs. Samsung will take place on March 31, 2014 at 9 a.m. in the Northern District of California. This patent trial will take a look at the smartphones and tablets released after the initial lawsuit that was settled in August, very much in Apple’s favor.
Of course, by then all these handsets will be long obsolete, and many newer handsets and tablets will have been added.