Samsung sued for infringing on patents related to biometrics

Last updated: Apr 12th, 2018 at 15:10 UTC+01:00

Usa-based data security firm PACid Technologies has filed a patent infringement lawsuit confronting Samsung in the Texas Eastern District Court on April half-dozen. The firm alleges that biometric features similar the fingerprint, facial recognition, iris browse, and the underlying user verification systems such equally Samsung Pass and Samsung KNOX found in recent Galaxy smartphones have infringed upon two of its patents in the U.s.a. (U.S. Patent No. 9,577,993 and nine,876,771) and one in South korea (KR20110128567A).

Amercement could be equally high every bit $3 billion

The lawsuit covers Galaxy flagship models from the Galaxy S6 to the Galaxy S8 and all their variants. The sales volume of these devices will be used to determine the quantum of amercement, and if information technology is proven that Samsung was aware of the patent infringement earlier the filing of the adjust, it will exist forced to pay upward to three times the harm amount per unit sold. PACid claims that Samsung knew virtually its patents at to the lowest degree since Jan 2017, and if information technology wins the instance against Samsung, the compensation claims could exist equally high as $three billion.

Lawsuits by unknown firms against major companies are zero new in the US. The land has witnessed many frivolous lawsuits against major corporations over vague patents and loose interpretations of such patents. Commonly referred to every bit patent trolls, the business model of these shady firms is to sue companies which actually develop and sell products. Industry sources seem to slot PACid in the aforementioned group given the many patent lawsuits it filed against Google, Apple and Nintendo.

Samsung faced many patent infringement lawsuits over the years, with the about prominent ane being the long fatigued legal dispute with Apple tree over design patents in the US. Samsung is also involved in a legal battle with Huawei in Mainland china over alleged infringement of 4G patents held past the Chinese firm. Samsung faced varying levels of setbacks in both these cases. If PACid is indeed a patent troll as reports seem to advise, let'southward hope Samsung wins this case equally a defeat would be bad not just for Samsung but the industry in full general.