Samsung Disables Google Local Search on its Smartphone Galaxy S3

An advanced search function, Google local search, which has been offered with the Galaxy S3 smartphone, has been disabled by Samsung, thanks to a patent dispute with Apple.

Simon Clark, head of intellectual property at law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner, explains this move by Samsung, in saying, “Samsung may be doing this as a precautionary measure to prevent it having to pay damages on devices sold outside the US in case Apple prevails in the States and then pursues a similar suit elsewhere.”

Samsung, according to Android Central, which released the news, said that its users were not made aware of these developments both internationally and in the United States.

The reason for this move is because Apple claims that Samsung’s innovation infringes its patent for a single search interface used in its Siri app, and has already enforced a temporary sales ban on another Samsung handset – the Galaxy Nexus.

This latest move comes as no surprise as both firms, Apple and Samsung, have been involved in a long list of lawsuits that has placed the technologies and design of their products under scrutiny.

While being unsuccessful in convincing a judge in London that Samsung had copied the iPad in terms of looks, Apple was successful in an appeals court in Dusseldorf where a preliminary injunction has been extended against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 across the EU.

And that’s not all – both these companies are set to clash yet again when a jury in the United States will hear the patent infringement suits filed by both companies against each other.