Samsung really hates being accused of copycatting, and it’s not just because of its long-running patent dispute with Apple. Vanity Fair has written a lengthy feature that details Samsung’s long history of getting sued for alleged patent infringement in several different industries, from LCD flat-panel technology to mobile phone camera technology.
Over the past decade alone, Samsung has been sued by Sharp for allegedly infringing upon its patents for LCD flat-panel technology, by Japanese company Pioneer for allegedly infringing upon its plasma TV technology, by Kodak for allegedly infringing upon its digital imaging technology and even by InterDigital, a small American company that had developed technology that it happily licensed for years to Apple and LG but that had to sue Samsung to get it to fork over even one dime in licensing fees.
The Vanity Fair article goes into many other past shady Samsung capers, including one Korean lawmaker who claims the company tried to bribe her with a “a golf bag stuffed with cash” and one former presidential aide who returned a $5,400 cash “gift” that Samsung had sent him out of the blue. The piece also does a nice job of detailing Samsung’s involvement in price fixing scandals similar to the eBook price fixing scandal that Apple got caught up in. The most amusing detail of all, however, is that Samsung employees once apparently ate incriminating documents during an investigation by Korean antitrust officials.
The entire piece is worth your time just for the laughs alone and can be found by clicking the source link below.
