Apple filed late Friday afternoon to add six more Samsung products to the second Apple versus Samsung smartphone patent trial, claiming gross patent infringement against all of the products. Judge Lucy Koh's court has been petitioned to add the Samsung Galaxy S III running Jelly Bean, the Galaxy Note II, The Galaxy Tab 8.9 WiFi, the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, the Rugby Pro, and the Galaxy S III Mini.
Following Magistrate Judge Grewal's admonishment to Apple, saying that the manufacturer should not try to assert its patents against the Android operating system without naming some specific devices, Apple's motion states that it "does not seek to accuse the Jelly Bean or the Ice Cream Sandwich platforms operating on any Samsung device."
Patent analyst Florian Mueller
notes that as with the first Apple versus Samsung trial, none of the newly added products for either party will have much market relevance by the time the trial begins in March of 2014. Mueller states that "it certainly would help Apple to start any future analysis of contempt of an injunction with the most recent version of the operating software that could still be included in the original infringement lawsuit." Additionally, the additions widen the revenue base against which to seek damages.
The move comes just a few days after Samsung filed to add the new iPad, and iPad Mini to the suit. Samsung had already added the iPhone 5 to the second patent suit, and Apple added a manifest of
20 devices to the suit in August, and included the Galaxy Note, and Galaxy S III
in a filing from this month. This trial and associated patents are the ones responsible for the brief sales embargo on the Galaxy Nexus phone earlier this year.