Samsung copied Apple’s iPhone and iPad ?

Apple Inc. has sued Samsung Electronics Co. for copying the iPad, iPod and iPhone with its Galaxy cellphones and tablet.

According to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court of Northern California, Apple claims that Samsung has copied its look, product design, user interface and even packaging, violating the patents and trademarks.

In its 38-page suit. Apple says “instead of innovating and developing own technology, Samsung chose to copy Apple’s technology, user interface and innovative style.” More over the lawsuit shows the side by side comparisons of both the products, the photos that point out the similarities of both packaging, similarities of icons for software applications such as music, phone, texting, and contacts.

Responding to the lawsuit, a Samsung spokesman said, “development of core technologies and strengthening our intellectual property portfolio are the keys to our continued success and we will actively respond to the lawsuit.”

Apple is in legal battles with Microsoft Corp.for using Apple’s trademark for the term “app store”, HTC Corp., Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Nokia Corp. and Eastman Kodak Co. on products such as smart phones and software, some of whom it has sued and some of whom it has been sued by.

Samsung devices, that run on Google Inc.’s Android operating system has overtaken Apple’s iPhone who had been dominating smart phones for several years. According to Research firm IDC the smart phone market will grow more and Apple is expecting to dominate the market, but is facing increasing competition from other companies.

Apart from the law suit, the relationship between the two companies is as follows. Being a strong competitor to Apple in mobile devices, Samsung makes microchips for some Apple products and memory chips for the MacBook Pro computer line.

Apple is accounted for 4% of Samsung’s revenue last year. Apple, stood second in position, spent about $6 billion at Samsung 2010. Sony Corp., holds the first place, which buys chips and liquid crystal displays from Samsung.

Previous battles were largely over copyright, but this time the battles are over trademark and patents. Let’s see how Samsung deals with this.