Samsung confirms $200 million ‘war chest’ for fight with Apple in 2012

The great Apple vs. Samsung patent battle of 2011 looks set to spill on over into 2012. But Samsung is ready, according to a report in the Korea Times, and has stockpiled a $200 million ‘War Chest’ to fuel its on-going legal high-jinks with the iPhone and iPad maker well into 2012.

Samsung has secured quite a few small victories during the past couple of weeks. Most notably the recent ruling by a US federal judge that concluded Samsung was not a threat to Apple. The next stop on Samsung’s legal world tour is Paris, where Apple’s lawyers will try and get some or all of Samsung’s Galaxy range of products banned.

An anonymous Samsung executive told The Korea Times the following: ‘if we win in Paris as well, that’s truly a big blow to Apple. We are ready to aggressively sell the Tabs.’

But will $200 million be enough to beat the world’s biggest technology company? We don’t think so. Legal costs can be astronomical in their proportions and Apple will no doubt be throwing all its got at Samsung – and, no doubt, its best lawyers.

But Samsung is starting to look like it might just come out of this whole legal skirmish in one piece. It’s already secured the vote from one US judge. And if the Paris case goes the same way Apple could be seen to be fighting a lost cause and might be forced to back off.

As it stands the two companies are now involved in 30 legal disputes in nine different countries. None of Samsung’s products have yet been officially banned from sale by any court thus far – although this could all change with a few rulings in Apple’s favour.

‘If Apple wants to defend market share against Samsung (and other Android device makers), it really needs to focus on solid technical patents instead,’ Said patent expert Florian Mueller in his blog.

Despite all these legal problems, Samsung’s share prices have hit record highs in recent months as the company went on to become the world’s biggest smartphone manufacturer, according to The Korea Times.

‘This is another factor why Samsung has been maintaining its hard-line stance against Apple. The U.S. ruling is expected to fuel more momentum for it to further strengthen the existing stance,’ said the anonymous Samsung executive.