Samsung drops 3G patents from Apple suit in Germany, adds emoticon patent

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Today in Germany Samsung dropped a number of 3G technology related patents from an infringement suit the company had filed against Apple and its iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S smartphones as part of a ongoing legal battle. According to Florian Mueller of the FOSS Patents blog, Samsung says that it will not attempt to assert its 3G patents against Apple's products that use Qualcomm chipsets - which means the iPhone 4S and CDMA versions of the iPhone 4. Samsung has said that it is doing this solely to streamline its case.

This is not to imply that Samsung is giving up on its attempt to earn an injunction on Apple's flagship smartphones, though. The company has filed two additional suits, each of which involves two patents, according to Mueller. Mueller claims that two of the patents are covered by "fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory" (FRAND) licensing requirements, which is typical of patents that become part of standards developed by standards bodies like the ITU, while the other two are fully controlled by Samsung.

Comically, one of the two unencumbered patents involves a method for inputting emoticons from a mobile device. ;-)