Apple: Our 3G isn't Samsung's 3G

While Apple has admitted it uses a 3G standard that Samsung has a patent for, the Cupertino, California-based tech giant has argued that the way it has implemented the standard means that it is not infringing on the patent.


As part of its cross-claim against Apple, Samsung has alleged that the iPhone 4, 4S and iPad 2 infringe on three patents Samsung has for 3G standards.

Day two of the case has focused on Apple's argument on how it does not infringe on Samsung's Australian Patent number 2005202512: "method and apparatus for data transmission in a mobile telecommunication system supporting enhanced uplink service".


This patent outlines how the transmit power of data channels can be scaled if the total transmit power required for the data channel exceeds the predetermined maximum power allocated.

Apple counsel Stephen Burley today confirmed that Apple uses the standard in question in its 3G devices through Qualcomm's baseband chips, but said that when Samsung claimed to allege that Apple infringed on its patents, the company didn't check to see how the device actually performs the function in the standard, instead just comparing its own patent to the standard and then claiming infringement.

"We make the submission that this is an unusual case of infringement, because our friends have not done a process one might normally expect," he said. "The allegations of infringement assume in some circumstances that, where the words of the standard leave open [to interpretation] that, necessarily, the option nominated by Samsung [has been chosen and] infringement has taken place."

The court is likely to end hearings for this week either tonight or tomorrow morning, as Justice Annabelle Bennett receives tutorials on this patent and Apple and Samsung experts meet to discuss differences over the other two patents involved in Samsung's counterclaim. This part of the case will be heard in the second week of August.