The folks at Samsung went big in 2012 and loaded up on patents, most notably mobile patents. As we’re sure many of you know Samsung didn’t have too great of a year in court regarding patents, and we have a feeling they’ll be trying hard to protect themselves in the future now that they’ve acquired so many this past year. Samsung was granted more patents than any other mobile company over the past 12 months.
As TechCrunch stated, it looks like they are loading up and building an arsenal. This way if they have to go to battle again they’ll have some return firepower for next time they meet someone like Apple in court. Last year they lost huge in the courtroom, and are hoping this will save them from the same trouble in the future.
Not only did Samsung receive the most patent grants in 2012, but according to the report they now have more than any other mobile company in the world. They have the largest amount of mobile patents, beating out Nokia and Microsoft, and from 1996 to now have been filing like crazy. Although many of those sure didn’t help them last year against Apple.
Overall the report goes on to mention roughly 25% of all patents last year were mobile based, and that number is only getting higher as the mobile generation continues to take over. I have one thing to say to Samsung. It’s not about having the most, it’s about having the right patents. We have a feeling they know that. More details and graphs detailing the mobile patent outlook for 2012 can be found from the link below. Hopefully their GALAXY S 4 is protected with a few of these newly granted patents.
[via TechCrunch]
Hopefully, this protects them against patent trolls like Apple and Microsoft. And hopefully, this doesn’t turn them into a parent troll and an anticompetitive company like Apple.
I agree. LG’s been making some Samsung-like moves lately. Hopefully they don’t get lawsuit happy.
Like the old saying goes if you cant beat them join them.
RR