The Moscow Arbitration Court ordered Samsung to stop sale of 61 phone models, including its latest folding, due to a patent infringement related to Samsung Pay, a digital payment platform that is available from the factory on all these models.
SQWIN SA is a Swiss-based company that accused Samsung of violating one of its patents for electronic payments with Samsung Pay. This patent was registered in Russia more than 7 years ago, basically a couple of years before Samsung launched its contactless payment platform in Russia.
Samsung Pay is currently the third most popular contactless payment system in that country with a 17% share. First of all, there is Google Pay with 32%, followed by Apple Pay with 30%.
Likewise, Counterpoint Research mentioned that Samsung was the second manufacturer that sold the most phones in Russia during the first quarter of 2021, so this ban will be a severe blow to the company.
What patent did Samsung violate?
According to SQWIN SA, Samsung infringed a patent related to the means to make an online payment using the user’s smartphone and the seller’s terminal ”. Neither the plaintiffs nor the Moscow Arbitration Court mentioned why Apple Pay and Google Pay do not violate this patent and Samsung Pay does.
However, their investigation concluded that Samsung did violate that patent, which belongs to Viktor Gulchenko of Switzerland.
Among the 61 models that Samsung will have to stop selling are mid-range equipment such as the Galaxy J5 (family that has disappeared) to the Z Flip3 and Z Fold3.