Samsung drops case against Apple

Samsung Electronics Co. dropped a patent-infringement suit against Apple Inc., filed at a US federal court in April in response to allegations its Galaxy products copied the iPhone and iPad. Samsung Electronics dropped the suit on June 30 "to streamline the legal proceedings," Nam Ki Yung, a spokesman for the Suwon, South Korea-based company, said yesterday in a telephone interview. Samsung will continue to defend its patent rights through a counter-claim in an earlier suit Apple filed at the same court in San Jose, California, he said. Litigation between the two companies, which compete in the mobile-device market, is under way in at least five countries including South Korea, Japan, Germany and the UK Withdrawal of the California suit won't affect other US cases or patent-violation complaints Samsung raised against Apple in other countries, Nam said. "Samsung will continue to actively defend and protect our intellectual property," he said. Samsung is the world's second- largest maker of mobile phones.