Samsung has been sued by U.S.-based data security firm PACid Technologies for allegedly infringing on two U.S. patents and one Korean patent with its Galaxy smartphone biometric features.
In a lawsuit filed on April 6th with the Texas Eastern District Court, PACid alleges that Samsung was aware of its patents since at least January 2017, but nevertheless went ahead and used PACid’s tech in all recent Galaxy S models, including the S6, S7 and S8 and the phones’ Edge variants.
As well, PACid claims Samsung used its tech in its own biometric operating system PASS and security system KNOX.
If the court accepts PACid’s claims, Samsung will be required to pay up to three times the standard rate of $1 per phone, or 2.82 billion USD (3 trillion KRW) in total.
It’s worth noting that according to South Korean news outlet The Investor, PACid is considered by industry sources to be “a patent troll whose business model rests solely on suing companies that actually develop and sell products based on loose interpretations of intellectual property regulations.”
The Investor notes that PACid has attempted to sue several other major companies for patent infringement, including Apple, Google and Nintendo.
Because Samsung is currently leading the FIDO Alliance, an organization that aims to develop standardized authentication technologies, including biometrics, across industries, it’s believed that PACid could purse other cases against FIDO members Amazon, Google and LG.
In the meantime, Samsung says it is preparing to face PACid’s suit in the U.S.
Source: The Investor
MobileSyrup may earn a commission from purchases made via our links, which helps fund the journalism we provide free on our website. These links do not influence our editorial content. Support us here.
