Samsung suing Apple over emoticons

By Molly McHugh December 19, 2011

Samsung and Apple have been globally making the rounds with various lawsuits and injunctions against specific products. The two manufacturers’ various patent disputes have run the gamete, ranging from infringements over marketing materials to product sizes. But now we may have reached the final frontier of these legal entanglements: Samsung claims that Apple has violated some up-until-now unmentioned patents regarding emoticons. The manufacturer is lobbying four new lawsuits against Apple that relate to the WCDMA standard for 3G, one of which includes Samsung taking Apple to court over emoticon display.

The suit was filed in Germany, and according to Reuters, these new claims will be separate from litigation from last April.

Apparently Samsung will challenge the way in which iPhones enter emoticons on the handset’s screen. The two tech giants have been involved in an escalating war, which Samsung was at the mercy of when its Galaxy Tab tablet sales were blocked in Australia. The injunction has since been lifted, and Samsung’s attempts to block the iPhone 4S have been unsuccessful.

This new suit, while ridiculous-sounding on the surface, will probably just act as fuel for Apple to follow up with its own new patent claims. It’s starting to feel like these companies are grasping at straws, looking for untouched territory they can leverage as patented. What Apple will retaliate with we can’t say, but at the moment it would appear Samsung has been taking a legal bruising. It could use a win in this series of court appearances.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Before coming to Digital Trends, Molly worked as a freelance writer, occasional photographer, and general technical lackey…

Mobile

Best Samsung tablet Memorial Day deals: Get an iPad Mini rival for $99

Target app displaying in a small window on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra.

If you've been looking for a quality iPad alternative to save some money, these deals are what you're looking for. They're a part of Samsung Memorial Day deals and the good news is that they've popped early. You can also check out our listing of iPad Memorial Day deals to put the two lines' deals head to head. In any event, if you want to save several hundred off of a convenient, portable screen or even get one for under $100, this is a great time to do so.
Best Samsung tablet Memorial Day deals
The Target app on the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra Joe Maring / Digital Trends

While early Memorial Day tablet deals cover a lot of ground, if you're interest in Galaxy Tab products, these are the best Memorial Day sales that we're seeing at this time. Many of these deals come straight from the pages of the best Samsung tablets, in case you want to make a comparison shop. Note that the S9 FE is less costly that the S8's in the list, as it is a paired down machine in terms of power. Of all of the Galaxy Tab products available in the early Memorial Day deals that we've uncovered so far, the most powerful is the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra, which is a fantastic screen but a bit expensive to buy at regular price. In other words, now is the time to grab it if you ever will. Also, while this isn't true for all of the models listed below, if you aren't happy with the initial configuration of the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra (maybe you want more RAM or storage) you can feel free to poke around the options quite a bit. Most of the other configurations are, at least at this time ahead of Memorial Day, on sale too.

Mobile

Get this Samsung tablet for under $100 for Memorial Day

Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite in the hands.

While some of the best tablets can compete with budget laptops in terms of what they can do, that performance comes at a cost that some folks might not need. If you just want something simple for streaming or reading, you don't need to grab the best of the best, and something like the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite is perfect for that. Not only is it budget-friendly, but it also has a great early Memorial Day deal on it from Walmart that brings the price down even further. While it usually goes for $159, Walmart is discounting it down to just $99, saving you a whopping $60 in the process.

Why you should buy the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite
While the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite may not be the best of devices, there's a lot to love about it, such as the fact that you get a pretty solid 8.7-inch for less than $100. It does run a lower 1340 x 800 resolution, but that's not too bad on a smaller screen where you likely won't notice it; plus, it does mean you use less bandwidth to stream content. Interestingly, it also has a fingerprint reader, which is pretty rare on more budget-friendly devices but makes opening and closing the tablet pretty easy.

Mobile

iPhone SE deals: Refurbished 2nd and 3rd Gen iPhones

apple iphone se 2020 news new black camera and touch id 04152020

If you’re in the market for one of Apple’s iPhone models, there are a lot of iPhone deals to shop right now, with iPhone 15 deals and iPhone 14 deals at the top of many shoppers’ list. But if you’re looking for ultimate savings, one iPhone model that offers a ton of value is the iPhone SE. It often makes for one of the best Apple deals you can find, and there are a couple iPhone SE models on the market to choose from. We’ve tracked down all of the best iPhone SE deals available to shop, and you’ll find all of the information you need to do so below. It’s difficult to find non-refurbished iPhone SE models, so if you’re looking for something brand new you should check out today’s best phone deals.
iPhone SE 2nd Gen deals

The second generation of the iPhone SE was initially launched in 2020, but it still manages to keep up with the needs of many phone users today. It utilizes the body of the Apple iPhone 8, which means it will have a home button and fingerprint ID instead of the Face ID technology in current iPhone models. That’s not much to give up, however, as the second generation iPhone SE still has a great display, a 12-megapixel camera with the ability to shoot 4K video, and wireless charging capability.