Samsung: We're Working On An Apple Attack With Google

Samsung says it is working on an anti-Apple legal plan with Google, confirming the search giant's direct involvement with its legal issues for the first time, and suggests a patent settlement is in the pipeline. Having seen the Galaxy Nexus slapped with a preliminary injunction last week, which it promptly appealed, Samsung now says it has a "game plan" with Google, The Korea Times reports, on how to squeeze more royalties out of its Cupertino rival.

Exactly what that plan might entail is still a secret, with Samsung refusing to detail it publicly. "It's too early to comment on our game plan [with Google] in the legal battle; but we will do our best to get more royalties from Apple, which has benefited from our technology," a supposed Samsung insider told the Korean site. "The fight is becoming more dramatic and the possibility of a truce in the form of a cross-licensing deal, seems to be becoming likely."

Samsung has a demanded 2.4-percent royalty rate for iPhone and iPad units using technology it has patented, but Apple argues such a fee is not in keeping with the FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) licensing terms. Complaints by Apple, among other, have seen Samsung made the subject of an antitrust investigation by the European Commission.

Google has already publicly lent its support to HTC in a previous case of patent-related war with Apple, and in fact sold HTC a set of patents it went on to use in a counter-strike against the iPhone maker. The Galaxy Nexus case is potentially even more threatening to Android, however, as the smartphone is Google's de facto flagship device, and in which it had a significant hand in designing and guiding to market.

Samsung is currently waiting to hear whether the preliminary injunction will be frozen or not. The company argued that Apple had not sufficiently demonstrated that the infringed patent in question causes substantial  damage to iPhone sales.