Despite setbacks in three patent battles with Apple last week, Samsung has come out fighting today by filing for preliminary injunctions on the iPhone 4S in Japan and Australia.

The Korean electronics firm wants to halt sales of the new Jesus-mobe in both countries, and to ban sales of the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 in Japan. It's also appealing the Aussie decision last week that granted Apple a preliminary injunction on the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Samsung is citing four infringements in its Japanese case, one on high-speed packet access (HSPA), which is standards-related, and three on user interfaces.

The chaebol* has already run into trouble asserting standards-based patents in its case in the Netherlands, where last week the judge told Samsung and Apple to sort out a FRAND licence on the 3G patents Samsung was moaning about.

Usually, when companies get together and form a standard like 3G or HSPA, they all agree to issue licences on their patents in the standard on a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) basis - in other words, you have to give out licences even to those firms you don't like very much, like your competitors.

The Dutch judge upheld this interpretation in the Samsung versus Apple case and told them they'd have to work out a licensing agreement.

In Samsung's new case in Japan, it's also arguing that three of its user interface (UI) patents are being infringed, "specifically UIs for the 'in flight mode' indicator (airplane icon); for customising a smartphone’s home screen; and for browsing applications categorised in a tree structure (in an apps store)", the company's Tomorrow blog said.

Back in Oz, Samsung is playing the old standards infringement card again for the iPhone 4S, this time for three patents related to wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) and HSPA, as well as appealing against the country's decision to temporarily ban sales of its Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Things are hotting up in the great patent dispute between the two tech titans, which courts all over the world are trying to sort through. While so far the war is generally going more Apple's way than Samsung's, the Korean giant is by no means ready to bow out.

"In light of these violations, Samsung believes the sale of such Apple devices should be banned. 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," the firm said. ®

Bootnote

* In South Korea, a large business conglomerate, literally meaning "money clan".