Samsung promises to turn up the heat in patent battle with Apple

A Samsung executive has gone on record in stating that the South Korea-based electronics giant plans to take a more active role in combating Apple in the companies’ ongoing war. “We’ll be pursuing our rights for this in a more aggressive way from now on,” Lee Younghee, head of global marketing for mobile communications, told the Associated Press in an interview on Friday. Lee stated that Apple has been “free riding” on Samsung’s wireless patents and the company will finally take a more proactive stance in defending its intellectual property. Read on for more.

“We’ve been quite respectful and also passive in a way” Lee told the AP. “However, we shouldn’t be … anymore.” The executive’s comments follow news that Samsung is already planning an assault on Apple’s next-generation iPhone 5, which is set to be unveiled at a press conference early next month.

Apple has been the aggressor in the ongoing patent dispute between the two technology giants, and the firm has scored some significant victories in recent months. Moreover, the patent battle between the two companies has caused Apple to decrease its dependence on Samsung as a component supplier, which could cost the South Korean company billions. Samsung’s passive stance to date may have resulted from the company’s effort to keep Apple’s business, and now that the Cupertino firm is looking elsewhere for parts, Samsung will finally turn up the heat.

But Apple sees things differently. “It is no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging,” Apple spokesman Steve Park said to the AP. “This kind of blatant copying is wrong and we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.”

Despite the company’s legal troubles with Apple, Lee sees a bright future ahead for Samsung and its Android-based GALAXY lineup of smartphones and tablets. “We are striving to continue this growth momentum and someday we can imagine that we can be in the leading position,” she said. Market analysis firm Strategy Analytics suggested in July that Samsung’s smartphone business grew 520% by shipment volume between the second quarters of 2010 and 2011.

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