Samsung moves to block iPhone 4S in latest patent row

Apple’s victory over the Samsung Galaxy Tab may be overshadowed, with the Korean electronics giant now filing a motion to stop all sales of the new iPhone 4S, along with the iPad 2, citing a number of alleged patent violations.

The move comes just hours after Apple announced it had sold more than four million units of the iPhone 4S worldwide, a new record, with one-quarter of those sold during the pre-order period last week.

Samsung yesterday filed preliminary injunctions in the Federal Court – and took similar action in Tokyo – to immediately stop the sale of all iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 and iPad 2 units.

It also filed an appeal over the court’s decision last week to ban the sale of the Galaxy Tab 1.01 in Australia, a devastating blow to Samsung and the Android platform, which is at risk of losing traction in its competition against the iPad.

In a blog post, Samsung explained that in Australia, it is accusing Apple of infringing three patents related to wireless telecommunication standards, including a patent for the method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving packet data, along with another for data transmission.

A third patent was cited relating to transmitting data with “high reliability in a mobile communication system”.

Samsung is also taking similar action in Japan, referring to three other patents.

“In light of these violations, Samsung believes the sale of such Apple devices should be banned,” it said in the post. “Apple has continued to violate our patent rights and free-ride on our technology. We will no longer stand idly by and will steadfastly protect our intellectual property.”

However, it is unclear whether Samsung will be successful, as it has not been able to file injunctions against Apple in any of its international cases so far. Earlier this month a Dutch court ruled no injunction would be filed.

The filing is only the latest skirmish in the ongoing legal battles between tech giants, who continue to fight over software and hardware patents. Apple and Samsung have been in court since July, with Apple winning an injunction against the Galaxy Tab last week.

However, if Samsung is successful it could be a potentially devastating move for Apple – it just announced over four million iPhone 4S units were sold over the weekend, more than doubling the sales of the first iPhone 4 launch.

Samsung and Apple are set to appear again in court today.