Samsung and Apple Patent Portfolio featured WIPS Global Advanced (1)

1. Introduction

On April 2011, Apple filed a patent lawsuit against Samsung  for infringing on number of Apple’s technology patents and design rights.  The lawsuit between Apple and Samsung continues to evolve.  This so called ‘Smart war’ case raises several issues; approval of Trade Dress and problem of FRAND (Fair, Reasonable, And Non-Discriminatory) licensing agreements. The US District Court in San Jose awarded Apple more than $1billion in August after finding that Samsung had infringed on six patents including copying the design of its mobile devices.

WIPS analyzed Samsung and Apple’s patent portfolios with its online patent search engine, WIPS Global Advanced, to take a closer look at both companies’ patent possessions and strategies.


Company Search of WIPS Global Advanced

2. The Methodology of Patent Portfolio Analysis

The WIPS Global Advanced (WGA)‘s company search feature was used to identify both Samsung and Apple’s patent condition during the recent 10 years, strategies of securing patents, concentrated technology area, and open innovation strategies.    
 
Analysis Subject

In general, companies file international applications after filing the domestic applications because general patent system follows the territorial principle.  For this reason, the analysis used number of domestic applications as an indicator.  In other words, it is important to identify domestic patent application activities in a given year in understanding a target company’s patent application activity.

We also identified both companies’ open-innovation strategies based on the information of joint applications and patent assignees.  We also compared both companies’ technology patent purchasing strategies based on the WGA’s patent assignee/ assignment information under US patent.

Main Analysis
- Samsung and Apple’s patent application activities in recent 10 years
- Samsung and Apple’s  recent promising technology areas
- Samsung and Apple’s open-innovation activities (joint application, patent purchasing)

To be continued.

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