Samsung to add iPhone 5 to US lawsuits vs Apple

Samsung Electronics Co said on Thursday it planned to add Apple's iPhone 5 to its existing patent lawsuits against the US rival, a move that could lead to a preliminary sales injunction of the popular smartphone.

The fresh legal step by the South Korean firm comes as Apple booked orders for over two million iPhone 5 models in the first 24 hours and the model hits store shelves on Friday.

Samsung and Apple are locked in global patent battle in 10 countries and the stakes are high as the two technology giants vie for the top spot in the booming smartphone market.

Both companies are also aggressively raising marketing spending to promote their latest products ahead of the crucial year-end holiday season.

"Samsung anticipates that it will file, in the near future, a motion to amend its infringement contentions to add the iPhone 5 as an accused product," it said in a US court filing.

"Based on information currently available, Samsung expects that the iPhone 5 will infringe the asserted Samsung patents-in-suit in the same way as the other accused iPhone models."

Samsung said in a separate statement on Thursday: "Apple continues to take aggressive legal measures that will limit market competition. Under these circumstances, we have little choice but to take the steps necessary to protect our innovations and intellectual property rights."

Apple Korea declined to comment.

Apple scored a sweeping legal victory over Samsung in late August after a US jury found the Korean firm had copied critical features of the iPhone and awarded the US firm $1.05 billion in damages.

The jury also found that Apple did not infringe any of Samsung's asserted patents. Samsung has since vowed it would continue to fight.