It's not uncommon for big tech companies to face frivolous lawsuits from entities that basically just want a turn for their money. Samsung is no exception, but unfounded lawsuits against it have increased considerably in recent years. Entities who file such lawsuits are commonly referred to as patent trolls.
Patent trolls buy patents with a wide technological scope and try to use them against household appliances, smartphones, semiconductors or telecommunications equipment. Since Samsung is one of the biggest manufacturers of such products, it naturally became the main target of these trolls.
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An analysis by Unified Patents shows that in the past five years alone, 404 patent infringement lawsuits have been filed against Samsung Electronics in the US. More than half of these cases, namely 208, were filed by non-professional entities or entities that are not actively engaged in business. A simple comparison with similar lawsuits filed against other major tech companies shows a clear trend of patent trolls targeting Samsung. Between 2019 and 2023, 168 "troll" lawsuits were filed against Google, 142 against Apple, and 74 against Amazon, while 404 were filed against Samsung.
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For example, the recent lawsuit filed against Samsung by KP Innovations targeted it as a manufacturer of foldable smartphones, even though many other companies such as Huawei, Xiaomi, Google or Motorola make these devices. Nevertheless, this entity decided to pursue a lawsuit only and only with Samsung. He does not avoid legal disputes of this kind and takes them to their logical end. It is worth noting that in the US, the Korean giant has filed the most patent applications of any company for many years, including last year, when it filed more than 9.
