Apple Aims Gun at This Samsung Super Hit

After winning a potentially huge patent infringement case against its big rival two weeks ago, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is trying to hit Samsung where it may really hurt. In an amended legal complaint, the iPhone maker has sought a ban on new devices belonging to the Korean company, including its bestselling Galaxy S III phone.

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Apple, accusing Samsung of filling “the market with copycat products,” included four more products to a list of Samsung devices it alleges infringes on its patents. The list now also includes the Galaxy Note smartphone as well as the Galaxy S III. The S III topped 10 million in global sales less than three months after its launch, but had not been on sale in the U.S. when Apple filed its first lawsuit, eventually winning $1.05 billion in damages last month.

“Since [last year], Samsung has continued to release new infringing products, including its current flagship device, the Galaxy S III,” Apple said in its complaint. “While Samsung’s new products infringe many of the same design patents, utility patents, trademarks, and trade dress rights that are at issue in the Earlier Case, Samsung’s new products also infringe additional utility patents, some of which issued after Apple filed the Earlier Case.”

As part of the earlier complaint, Apple had asked for eight Samsung mobile phones and tablets to be blocked in the U.S., with Judge Lucy Koh ruling that the company’s request for a permanent ban will be considered at a December 6 hearing.

Samsung said in a response that Apple was “resorting to litigation” to defeat competition “in an effort to limit consumer choice” and that it will fight the ban request. “We will continue to take the necessary legal measures to ensure the availability of our innovative products in the United States,” Samsung said in a statement to the Associated Press.

Apple has been fighting several different legal battles with its rivals that use Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android operating system in their devices. The Samsung victory carries key implications for both companies and raises new questions about the intellectual property debate.

“Apple’s move may not have an immediate impact on sales, but the image for the new products is getting hurt,” Ahn Seong Ho, a Hanwha Securities analyst, told Bloomberg. “The news headlines are all implying that while Apple is leading innovations, Samsung just copied.”

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