Samsung in crisis: Emergency meetings held as Apple lists eight smartphones it wants banned

Senior Samsung executives have held crisis meetings in the wake of the electronics giants’ $US1.05 billion smartphone patent lawsuit loss, as Apple released a list of eight Samsung smartphones it wants banned in the US.

According to TechCrunch, Apple is seeking injunctions against the following Samsung devices:

• Droid Charge
• Galaxy S Showcase
• Galaxy Prevail
• Galaxy S 4G
• Galaxy S2 (AT&T)
• Galaxy S2 (Skyrocket)
• Galaxy S2 (T-Mobile)
• Galaxy S2 Epic 4G

Meanwhile in South Korea, the Korea Times reports former Samsung Electronics CEO Choi Gee-sung, mobile devices chief Shin Jong-kyun and lead marketing official Lee Dong-joo have held emergency talks following the patent loss, with one unnamed senior executive saying, “It’s absolutely the worst scenario for us”.

Following Apple’s proposal in March for a patent cross-licencing agreement to settle patent disputes between Apple, Google/Motorola and Samsung, Choi Gee-sung represented Samsung in high-level talks with Apple CEO Tim Cook during April. The talks collapsed a month later.

While recent patent lawsuits between Google/Motorola and Apple were dismissed with prejudice by Judge Richard Posner, Apple recently succeeded in winning injunctions against Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus smartphone and Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the US.

According to an internal memo leaked to Samsung Tomorrow, executives told staff:

“We initially proposed to negotiate with Apple instead of going to court, as they had been one of our most important customers. However, Apple pressed on with a lawsuit, and we have had little choice but to counter-sue, so that we can protect our company.”

“Certainly, we are very disappointed by the verdict at the US District Court for the Northern District of California (NDCA), and it is regrettable that the verdict has caused concern amongst our employees, as well as our loyal customers.”

“The NDCA verdict starkly contrasts decisions made by courts in a number of other countries, such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, and Korea, which have previously ruled that we did not copy Apple’s designs. These courts also recognised our arguments concerning our standards patents.”