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Apple adds Samsung's flagship Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note to amended 'Galaxy Nexus' complaint

Apple on Friday filed an amended complaint with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, adding two versions each of the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note to its original claims of patent infringement against a number of Samsung smartphones and tablets.

The case, not to be confused with the recently decided Apple v. Samsung trial, was first lodged in February, with Apple leveraging eight utility patents against 17 Samsung devices. At the time, it was said that Apple was taking direct aim at the Samsung-built Google-branded Galaxy Nexus with the complaint.

Along with the Galaxy S III and the Verizon version of the handset, Apple added the Galaxy Note and Galaxy Note 10.1 to the list of infringing devices, bringing the total tally up to 21 accused devices. The S III made its U.S. debut in June, more than one year after Apple lodged its first complaint against Samsung in April 2011, accusing the company's products of copying the look and feel of the iPhone and iPad.

Apple claims it is suffering and will suffer irreparable harm from Samsung's violation of eight utility patents, four being asserted in the Apple v. Samsung case and four issued after that suit began. According to Apple, Samsung has "continued to flood the market with copycat products," since the separate landmark case started last year. In the intervening months, the Korean company has "continued to release new infringing products, including its current flagship device, the Galaxy S III."

The four new patents Apple is leveraging against Samsung include the '647 "Data Detectors" patent, the '721 "Slide-to-unlock" property, the '172 "Word completion" invention and the '604 "Universal search" patent. The Cupertino tech giant successfully wielded the '721 "Data Detectors" patent to obtain an ITC sales ban against certain Android-based HTC handsets in December, however Google continued to implement the feature in its mobile operating system despite the suit's outcome.

From the amended complaint:

These infringing Samsung products include the at least 21 new smartphones, media players, and tablets that Samsung has released beginning in August 2011 and continuing through August 2012. Specifically, Samsung has imported into, offered for sale, or sold in the United States at least the following products, each of which infringes Apple’s patent rights: the Galaxy S III, Galaxy S III – Verizon, Galaxy Note, Galaxy S II Skyrocket, Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch, Galaxy S II, Galaxy S II - T-Mobile, Galaxy S II - AT&T, Galaxy Nexus, Illusion, Captivate Glide, Exhibit II 4G, Stratosphere, Transform Ultra, Admire, Conquer 4G, and Dart smartphones, the Galaxy Player 4.0 and Galaxy Player 5.0 media players, and the Galaxy Note 10.1, Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus and Galaxy Tab 8.9 tablets.

While Apple won a temporary injunction against the Galaxy Nexus in June on potential infringement of the '604 "Unified search" patent, Samsung was granted a stay pending appeal and the unit remains on sale today.

After being handed a sweeping victory in the broader Apple v. Samsung trial, Apple is now seeking a permanent sales ban against eight infringing Samsung smartphones. The Korean company has vowed to fight the injunction with "all necessary measures."