November 22, 2024

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[ET NEWS] PACid Technologies, a US data encryption company, has filed a suit against Samsung Electronics, claiming the latest Galaxy S phones have infringed its patents related to biometric solutions.

In the complaint filed on April 6 with the Texas Eastern District Court, the firm alleged that Samsung’s biometric features like fingerprint or facial recognition have infringed its three patents -- two in the US and one in Korea -- on data encryption. 

Samsung Galaxy S8

The suit involves all the recent Galaxy S models, including the S6, S7 and S8 and their Edge variants, and Samsung’s own biometric operating system PASS and security system KNOX.

Considering the global sales of the flagship phones over the past three years, the compensation claims could reach up to US$3 billion. 

Industry sources say PACid is more like a patent troll whose business model rests solely on suing companies that actually develop and sell products based on loose interpretations of intellectual property regulations. The firm had also raised several patent suits against other tech firms like Google, Apple and Nintendo.

Samsung is currently leading the FIDO Alliance that aims to develop standardized authentication technologies, including biometrics, across industries. Following the results of the Samsung suit, more cases could be filed against other member firms like LG Electronics, Google and Amazon.

Samsung said it has started preparations for the suit in the US.

By Kil Jae-sik and Choi Jae-pil
(osolgil@etnews.com) (jpchoi@etnews.com)
This story was produced by ET News and The Investor