Samsung 'to launch Galaxy S III in US', snubs Apple's ban bid

Pre-sale numbers have Cupertino worried

Samsung has said that its Galaxy S III smartphone will launch in the US, despite Apple's attempts to get it banned.

The fruity firm moved to tack the S III onto its preliminary injunction request against the Galaxy Nexus smartphone on Tuesday in its second California court lawsuit. A hearing on the Nexus is scheduled for today and Apple wants to talk about the S III as well.

Samsung said that the request was "without merit".

"We will vigorously oppose the request and demonstrate to the court that the Galaxy S III is innovative and distinctive," the firm said in an emailed statement.

"We would also like to assure consumers that the US launch and sales of the Galaxy S III will proceed as planned."

The Korean company also said that it thought Apple's ban attempt "would only serve to disrupt consumers' access to the latest innovative technology".

Apple slipped the Galaxy S III bit into a 'motion to supplement the record', and Samsung took issue with this. The Korean company said in its legal response that Apple should have gone through the whole procedure for a new ban, rather than attempting to tack the S III onto another injunction request.

"Apple’s mis-named motion is an effort to amend its notice of motion for a preliminary injunction. That preliminary injunction motion concerns one product, and it is not the Galaxy S III. Nor is the Galaxy S III a subject of Apple’s complaint," the filing said.

"It is too late to add new products to the pending motion for a preliminary injunction. A notice of motion provides the due process notice and an opportunity to be heard."

Samsung was also peeved that Apple waited until just days before the hearing to try to get the S III onto the injunction request, saying that it had announced the product a month ago and Cupertino hadn't said a word about it until now.

Apple said in its filing that the S III went along with the Nexus complaint because it infringed on the same patents in the same way. The company got its hands on an S III from the UK when it was released and claimed to have found that the phone was infringing on its unified search and links for structures patents.

"Because the Galaxy S III contains two of the exact infringing features already at issue with respect to the Galaxy Nexus, the S III is not more than colorably different from the Galaxy Nexus, and falls within the scope of Apple's current proposed order submitted in connection with its motion for a preliminary injunction," Apple said.

Cupertino also admitted that the S III had the potential to harm it a lot more than the Nexus had done because of the reported pre-sale numbers for the latest Galaxy smartphone.

Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile will all reportedly start selling the S III on 21 June. Apple said it tried to get Samsung to delay the launch, but the Korean firm refused.

Samsung's lawyers told Apple in a letter that it considered any preliminary injunction "meritless" and its arguments to add the S III to its ban request "baseless".

"Apple's pending preliminary injunction motion will have no bearing on the release date of the Galaxy S III," the letter said. ®