Samsung just announced in a blog post today, that they have filed preliminary injunctions in the Tokyo District Court and in the New South Wales Registry to ban the sale of Apple's iPhone 4S in Japan and Australia, respectively. Additionally, in Japan, Samsung have also requested an injunction to bar the sale of the iPhone 4 and the iPad 2.

According to Samsung, the injunction request in Australia is premised on Apple infringing various patents relating to wireless telecommunications standards, specifically Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) and High Speed Packet Access (HSPA). In contrast, in Japan Samsung has filed on the basis of Apple infringing one HSPA standard-related patent and three user interface patents.

The Sydney Morning Herald commented that it was "unclear why Samsung did not file its suit [in Australia] before the [iPhone 4S] went on sale", but the delay may make it harder for Samsung to make its case. Furthermore, FOSSPatents argues that the request for an injunction by Samsung is likely to fail in Australia because the claim relates to three patents declared essential to the 3G telecommunications standard. Indeed a judge in the Netherlands has held that Samsung cannot seek an injunction based on these patents.

However, (again according to FOSSPatents) Samsung may have a stronger case in Japan as it has based its claim on three user interface patents in addition to a standard-related patent. If the user interface patents are held to be valid then Samsung may have a strong case for their injunction.

Samsung have also filed an appeal against the Australian court's decision on October 13, where Apple were granted a preliminary injunction banning the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia.

The patent war between Apple and Samsung now spans multiple infringement cases in 10 countries. Samsung is clearly fed-up of playing a passive role and has gone on the offensive. Indeed, Samsung are now claiming that Apple has "continued to violate [their] patent rights and [are] free [riding] on [their] technology".

In any event, it is prudent to keep in mind that we are only at the preliminary injunction stage in most cases and the decision to ban products is not yet final, there is a chance that they could be overturned at trial.

Check out Samsung's blog post, below:

Following similar motions in France and Italy, Samsung Electronics today, October 17, 2011, filed preliminary injunction motions in the Tokyo District Court, Japan and in the New South Wales Registry, Australia requesting the courts to immediately stop the sale of Apple's iPhone4S in the respective countries.

In Japan, Samsung is also seeking an injunction order to immediately bar the sale of iPhone4 and iPad2. And in a separate filing today, Samsung has appealed the Australian court's decision on October 13 to grant a preliminary injunction over the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

The injunction request in Japan cites infringements on one High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) standard-related patent and three user interface patents, which seriously violate Samsung's intellectual property.

Patent Claims in Japan:

1) One HSPA patent which relates to a method for deciding amount of power consumption during data transmission

2) Three user interface patents that are essential for displaying information on the screen, specifically UIs for the “in flight mode” indicator (airplane icon); for customizing a smartphone’s home screen; and for browsing applications categorized in a tree structure (in an apps store).

Samsung's preliminary injunction request in Australia cites three patent infringements related to wireless telecommunications standards, specifically Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) and HSPA.

Patent Claims in Australia:

1)  Method and apparatus for transmitting/receiving packet data using pre-defined length indicator in a mobile communication system (WCDMA)

2)  Method and apparatus for data transmission in a mobile telecommunication system supporting enhanced uplink service (HSPA)

3)  Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving data with high reliability in a mobile communication system supporting packet data transmission (HSPA)

In light of these violations, Samsung believes the sale of such Apple devices should be banned. Apple has continued to violate our patent rights and free ride on our technology. We will no longer stand idly by and will steadfastly protect our intellectual property.

[Source: Samsung]