402: Chapter 402 The Plan Failed! Exiled to Africa

Apple's response was even more blunt: "We at Apple will not participate. We are considering strengthening our cooperation with Transsion. We will not sue our suppliers."

Both calls were rejected in less than two minutes. After hanging up, the Samsung legal team hurried back to Koh Dong-jin's office.

He briefly explained the situation and how they intended to target them, but both companies had responded with such counter-measures.

"Alright, in short, Qualcomm won't participate, and neither will Apple. If we don't have any partners, we'll have to do this ourselves."

Koh Dong-jin's expression was complex. He was a veteran at Samsung, having risen from a deputy to his current position as head, and he had never seen Qualcomm and Apple both say no to the same thing at the same time.

Apple was Samsung's biggest client and also its biggest enemy; they had a very complicated relationship.

But now that both companies chose not to take sides, it showed they understood one thing better than Samsung: they could not afford the consequences of fighting a patent war with Transsion.

Suddenly, he remembered Transsion's previous extortion regarding communication patents, and he felt an urge to back down. But at this point, there was no possibility of retreating.

"Then we'll do it ourselves!"

Koh Dong-jin stood up, pressed both hands on the conference table, and a look of determination—that there was no turning back—flashed in his eyes.

"Legal team, prepare the lawsuit materials within three days. File lawsuits simultaneously in South Korea, the United States, Europe, and China, demanding a thorough investigation into Transsion's Under-display Fingerprint technology."

On December 8th, Samsung Electronics filed a lawsuit at the Seoul Central District Court, accusing Transsion of infringing on patents related to Under-display Fingerprint technology and demanding a ban on the sale of relevant products.

At the same time, actions were being carried out simultaneously in other regions.

#Transsion Once Again Embroiled in Patent Dispute#

#Under-display Fingerprint#

"Samsung is desperate. The transsion s5 is selling too well, and their market share keeps dropping, so they've started using the law to stir up hype for themselves. But are they prepared to offend Transsion's legal team?"

"Whether they're prepared or not doesn't matter, but they could consult their predecessors in advance, like Nokia and... [Dog Head emoji]"

"Never mind the consequences. From a technical perspective, Transsion had already showcased this technology a long time ago. It seems they had experimental units at last year's quarterly summit... But I don't recall Samsung ever showcasing such technology, do I?"

"I can confirm that, Samsung definitely didn't."

"What's funny is that Samsung apparently contacted Apple and Qualcomm, but none of them participated. Now they're charging ahead all by themselves. Doesn't that look like a lone hero that nobody wants to team up with?"

"I hope they are a lone hero, because Transsion actually has a gun in their hands."

Approaching the end of the year, although Transsion's legal team had almost met their KPI, since a fool had delivered themselves to their doorstep, they were still happy to handle it.

Thus, the legal department once again sent out Deputy General Counsel Zhao Mingyuan to issue a public statement.

"Samsung's lawsuit lacks any factual or legal basis. We possess complete, independent intellectual property rights in the field of fingerprint unlocking. The core patents were applied for a long time ago, and I personally handled this matter back then. The so-called 'protection of rights' by our competitor is merely malicious provocation intended to maintain their own position. Our legal department will actively respond to the lawsuit and simultaneously countersue Samsung globally for infringing on Transsion's relevant fingerprint patents."

After the legal department released some patent numbers, Shen Fei also posted an update.

"Our competitor is desperate because their screen panels cannot currently support the relevant technology. Since they can't do it themselves, they want to prevent others from doing it too. This isn't business competition; this is cheating. I didn't expect the tech industry to continue this consistent style of behavior. I wonder if next time, the revisionist history books will claim that Under-display Fingerprint technology was pioneered by Samsung? [Anxious Anxious Anxious]"

"It seems Mr. Shen is indeed free lately, actually having time to engage in a war of words with Samsung."

"Samsung's screens are the best. What kind of trash is Transsion to dare to provoke them?"

"Wake up, person above! The 'Great Star' you speak of can't even get around the Diamond Pixel Arrangement, and you call them the world number one? Wake up!"

"Even if they catch up on screen arrangement, Under-display Fingerprint requires deep integration between the screen and the fingerprint module. This brings up another very abnormal phenomenon. Transsion's two departments can actually conduct integrated R&D, while here at Samsung, it's more 'normal'—the two departments just fight each other."

After issuing the statement, Transsion filed countersuits in three locations globally. However, compared to their groundless provocation, Transsion's evidence was much more comprehensive. A series of patent numbers were all thrown in front of the judges...

In the face of this evidence, the presiding judge at the District Court of Düsseldorf, Germany, directly dismissed Samsung's lawsuit.

The reason was: The relevant lawsuit lacked factual basis; Transsion's core patent application date in the field of Under-display Fingerprint was earlier than Samsung's, and the technical solution was complete and implementable.

Consequently, a digital blogger posted the dismissal notice on Twitter immediately. Compared to the court, the wording used by these bloggers was much harsher.

"Samsung Electronics treats patent litigation as a tool for market competition rather than a legal procedure to protect intellectual property rights. We in Europe are civilized nations, we don't steal, so we will not support this kind of malicious litigation..."

After the ruling in Germany, the first to follow up was actually the United States court.

It not only dismissed all of Samsung's litigation requests but even ordered Samsung to pay Transsion 5 million USD in legal fees as compensation.

At the same time, regarding matters in the United States, they were prohibited from suing Transsion again on the grounds of patents related to Under-display Fingerprint for a period of three years.

This fine amount wasn't large; for Samsung, it was just pocket change.

However, on the verdict, the judge wrote: "Before filing the lawsuit, Samsung did not communicate with Transsion in any way, did not attempt commercial negotiation, and did not seek cross-licensing. This does not look like solving a problem; it looks more like using litigation procedures to interfere with a competitor's normal business activities."

At the same time, the Chinese court also issued a ruling; the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court similarly dismissed the relevant requests.

All three locations dismissed the case! This meant that their patent encirclement had completely failed.

Koh Dong-jin sat in his office, looking at the court rulings in front of him, and for the first time, he began to panic.

After all, not only had this plan made no progress, but it had instead invited a huge backlash, which meant accountability!

He had only just settled into this position; was he going to be replaced again?

Just then, his phone rang, and a name he least wanted to see popped up on the screen. Chairman Lee Kun-hee!

But Koh Dong-jin could only pray that the Chairman did not yet know the specific details. After preparing himself mentally, he finally answered the call: "Chairman!"