Korea antitrust regulators investigate Samsung following Apple claim

It may have won big thanks to a recent landmark US patent verdict but Apple fight against Samsung in Korea continues, after local media reported that the country’s antitrust regulator is investigating Samsung following a complaint lodged by Apple.

Marketwatch reports that the action follows an Apple claim from June alleging that Samsung has abused its position of dominance — the company accounts for a market leading 26 percent share of global mobile shipments — and the first round of the investigation is said to be complete.

The incident comes after a Korean judge’s split decision on a minor patent suit last month, in a case unrelated to the US ruling.

Last month, the Korean judge ruled that both companies had infringed upon each other’s patents, although the punitive measures were far less wide-ranging than the $1.2 billion fine levied on Samsung in the US. The fines dished out were in the tens of thousands of dollars range, while both companies were given sales bans on a number of older generation devices that are no longer on sale in Korea.

Samsung filed that suit in March, despite pledging to avoid a legal dispute in its home market less than six months previous, and it seems Apple is making its own moves on its rival on its home turf.

Korea isn’t the only country where Apple has seen legal action against Samsung fail to live up to the landmark US decision and, last week, a Japanese judge rejected a legal claim against Samsung from the Cupertino-based company.

Tokyo District Judge Tamotsu Shoji ruled that Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones and one of its tablets do not breach an Apple patent related to synchronising music and video data in devices to servers.

Samsung responded to the US verdict claiming that it is more dedicated to innovation than its rival, which it claimed is focused on competing via the courtroom. That statement followed one from Apple CEO Tim Cook heralding the US verdict as being about values. Cook also revealed his belief that Samsung’s infringements went “far deeper” than the company had originally thought.

Header image via Flickr / nez