"Samsung Electronics files fresh lawsuit against Apple"

SAMSUNG Electronics said today it widened its patent litigation against Apple in its home country, accusing the US company of violating three more patents.

An Apple iPad is displayed next to Samsung's Galaxy tablet device.

 The new allegations cover so-called "utility" patents that relate to the specific functions of mobile computing devices, such as smartphones and tablet PCs.

In April last year, Samsung accused Apple of violating five of its patents related to technical standards in the way data is transmitted by such devices.

Samsung filed that suit in response to a case brought by Apple in the US  in which it accused Samsung of copying the look and feel of its products.

In the time since, their legal battle has spread to more than two dozen cases in nine

countries.

The latest suit was filed yesterday in Seoul Central District Court and announced by Samsung overnight, the same day Apple scheduled an event in San Francisco to introduce a new version of its iPad.

Samsung said the suit covers Apple's iPhone 4S and iPad 2 and alleges that Apple violated patents Samsung holds in South Korea covering the way data is displayed on a mobile phone, on a "mobile terminal" and a "method for outputting a short message on a mobile communication terminal".

Apple's Korea spokesman Steve Park repeated the company's previous statements that it will protect its intellectual property.

Apple has been engaged in multiple legal fights with phone makers since 2010 who use Google's Android operating system, which Apple believes copies key functions of its products.

Yesterday, Dow Jones Newswires reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that Apple has issued proposals to Motorola Mobility Holdings, a phone maker being acquired by Google, and Samsung to settle some pending litigation in exchange for royalty payments to license its patents, among other terms.

Samsung declined to comment on the report.