Apple vs. Samsung - France becomes the battleground

France has become the battleground this week in the ongoing patent war between Apple and Samsung, as the Korean tech firm has now revealed that it filed a complaint in France, against the Cupertino-based iPhone and iPad maker. Samsung is suing Apple, claiming that Apple infringes on three of its mobile phone technology patents with its iPhone as well as its iPad tablet.

According to AFP, Samsung’s latest complaint was filed with a district court in Paris during July (and announced yesterday), with the first hearing being scheduled for December. The publication’s source stated that the complaint deals with three Samsung patents on UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), a third generation mobile phone technology for networks based on the GSM standard.

With this lawsuit Samsung is targeting Apple’s iPhone 3G, 3GS as well as the iPhone 4 smartphones and the iPad and iPad 2 models which make use of UMTS technology (3G + Wi-Fi models).

This tit-for-tat move follows in the wake of its loss against Apple last week, which bans Samsung from selling its latest Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in Germany, with a court in Dusseldorf ruling that the company had copied Apple's iPad. Samsung said it plans to appeal this decision. The company was also forced to remove the newly announced Galaxy Tab 7.7 from its IFA stand, after Apple won an injunction in Germany, banning Samsung from selling and marketing the product.

In related news ClassCo has recently filed a lawsuit with the US District Court for the Norther District of Illinois, claiming that Apple, HP (as owner of Palm), HTC, LG, BlackBerry holding company Research In Motion, Samsung, Huawei and ZTE all violate its patents for caller ID.