It seems that as long as Samsung and Apple continue to be two of the biggest producers of consumer tech products, legal battles between the pair over alleged copyright infringements will rage on. Now, the Korean giant looks set to face more claims of plagiarism from the iPhone maker, after its latest patent included images of what appears to be the Apple Watch.
Samsung's patent for the "wearable device," which was filed back in January and published yesterday, contains numerous images showing different watches and fitness bands. But as noted by Patently Apple, some figures are clearly Apple Watch designs with its digital crown and backside charging array. They even show the watch in the same positions as the photos found on Apple's website.
The patent says the device "may be coupled with the band for fixing through a structure, such as a separated buckle or a continuous integral buckle, through a magnetic attracting force, or through a hooked ring or hooked member."
Despite IDC figures that show the global smartwatch market has shrunk 32 percent in the last year and Apple's market share declining from 72 percent to 47 percent, the Cupertino firm has sold a million more smartwatches than Samsung in 2016, though the gap between the two is quickly closing.
It will be interesting to see what comes of Samsung's smartwatch patent. The company may claim it is merely offering up the images as examples of how other smartwatches use the bands - though Apple proabably won't see it this way.
"Other aspects, advantages and salient features of the disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses various embodiments of the present disclosure," reads the patent.
Neither Samsung nor Apple have commented.