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9 March 2018Patents

Samsung sued in US and China over touch technology

A US technology company has said Samsung’s touchscreen products including the Galaxy S8 infringe patents related to haptic (touch interaction) technology.

Immersion announced its lawsuits against the South Korean electronics company yesterday, March 8. They were filed at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas Marshall Division and the Fuzhou Intermediate Court in China.

California-based Immersion is a developer and licensor of haptic technology. It owns more than 2,900 patents and pending patents including US patent number 8,619,051, concerning haptic technology feedback in mobile devices.

The US complaint states that Samsung licensed haptic software from Immersion for many years before declining to renew its software and patent licence in 2015. However, Samsung “continued to include the haptic feedback technology covered by the patents in its new products” and sells them in the US.

Samsung’s infringing products include the Galaxy J3 Eclipse, Galaxy J3 Emerge, Galaxy J3, Galaxy J7 Perx, Galaxy J7 Sky Pro, Galaxy J7 V, Galaxy J7, Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge, Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+, Galaxy S8 Active, and the Galaxy Note 8.

The infringement has caused “substantial damage” to Immersion, according to the complaint, and Samsung should be ordered to pay damages, fees, and costs.

Immersion also requested that the court temporarily, preliminarily, and permanently enjoin Samsung from continuing to produce and distribute the infringing products.

The claim in the Fuzhou Intermediate Court accused the same Samsung products of violating three Chinese patents (numbers ZL02821854.X; ZL201210005785.2; and ZL201310253562.2) relating to Immersion’s haptic technology.

This is the second complaint Immersion has filed against Samsung recently. In August 2017 it sued Samsung in the same Texas district court and Motorola Mobility in Delaware, alleging that both companies’ smartphones infringe five patents relating to haptic technology.

Immersion previously asserted the ‘051 patent against Apple. The dispute ended in a settlement and licensing agreement between the parties in January, as reported by WIPR.

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More on this story

Patents
30 January 2018   Technology companies Apple and Immersion have reached a global licensing deal as part of a settlement agreement that concludes all litigation between the companies.
Patents
14 May 2019   South Korean electronics company Samsung and California-based Immersion have agreed to a settlement and global licence agreement.