Posts Tagged ‘Google Korea’

Samsung Push For Ban on iPhone 5 Korea

Friday, September 23rd, 2011
Samsung Push For Ban on iPhone 5 Korea

By Don Southerton, KoreaLegal.org Editor

Another dimension to the Samsung Apple slugfest is the upcoming release of the iPhone 5 in Korea as well as the rest of the world. Samsung appears to be pressuring the courts to stall the release in their home market. We’ll see…. Apple should discuss with me on how to approach culturally. For example (APPLE), I’d appeal to popular tech lust and let Koreans demand the product…..give me a call  1-310-866-3777 anytime.

Korea Times notes

Samsung Electronics is seeking a complete ban on the sales of the upcoming Apple iPhone 5 in Korea, in apparent retaliation to its U.S. rival’s continual patent suits against it in global markets.

Sources closely involved with the thorny issue including Samsung insiders made the comments Sunday as the two technology firms’ patent war is set to spread from Europe to the rest of the world.

At least 23 lawsuits are pending between Apple and Samsung in such countries as France, Japan, Germany, Korea and the United States and more are expected in an increasing number of states.

“Just after the arrival of the iPhone 5 here, Samsung plans to take Apple to court here for its violation of Samsung’s wireless technology related patents,’’ said a senior executive from Samsung Electronics, asking not to be identified.

“For as long as Apple does not drop mobile telecommunications functions, it would be impossible for it to sell its i-branded products without using our patents. We will stick to a strong stance against Apple during the lingering legal fights.’’

His remarks contrast Samsung’s hitherto approach of not entering into a dogfight with Apple even when the latter brought up patent issues with Samsung’s Galaxy brand smartphones and tablets.

The reason Samsung swallowed the image as copycats is Apple is one of the firm’s major clients as many of the U.S. behemoth’s i-products use its flash memories.

But Samsung showed signs of changing its strategy after Apple won an injunction from a German court against the Galaxy Tab 10.1 early last month so that Korea’s foremost company cannot sell the tablet PC in Germany.

To add insult to injury, it had to pull its latest tablet version of the Galaxy Tab 7.7, which has a smaller screen than the Tab 10.1, from its unveiling event during the IFA tech fair in Berlin this month.

Samsung responded by filing an appeal against the Germany ruling and a countersuit against Apple in Australia where the sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 have also been prohibited.

And the world’s second-largest handset maker is looking to make preemptive strikes by targeting the iPhone 5.

“We are taking different tactics since we are quite confident,’’ said another Samsung executive on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t allowed to speak publicly for Samsung.

“If Samsung wins in Germany that will give us a big breakthrough and so will other envisioned efforts against such products as the iPhone 5.’’

Samsung claimed that Apple’s iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPad 2 violate seven patents related to its wireless technology.

Targeting iPhone 5

The iPhone 5 has drawn interest even before officially hitting the market thanks to its attractive features and functionality.

It uses LG Display’s liquid crystal display (LCD), Samsung’s NAND flash memories and application processors (APs) and LG Innotek’s camera modules. It is also likely to have an 8-megapixel camera and an A5 dual-core processor.

Near-field communication (NFC), a feature to make it possible for the iPhone to be waved over a sensor for credit-card payments, will be added, officials said.

If Samsung manages to suspend the latest Apple handset it could affect SK Telecom and KT, the nation’s top two mobile carriers, authorized to sell iPhones.

KT spokesman Lee In-won said that KT will pay attention to the ongoing patent battles, while SK Telecom spokeswoman Kim Ji-won made no comment.

KT and SK Telecom have sold some 2.7 million and 400,000 iPhones in the local market, respectively. The iPhone 5 will make its debut here in the not-so-distant future through the two carriers.

Yet, there are chances that the standoff between Samsung and Apple may ease as the former is reluctant to make an enemy of the latter.

Such a mantra was well felt in statements by the Korean firm’s chief executive during a recent meeting with reporters.

“Apple is Samsung’s biggest customer. Hewlett-Packard (HP), Nokia and Sony were Samsung’s previous big clients, however, Apple is now a primary one. From our perspective, we are not entirely happy (about the litigations),’’ Samsung CEO Choi Gee-sung said.

 

 

Samsung Push For Ban on iPhone 5 Korea

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Southerton Summer Update–Globalization

Saturday, July 9th, 2011
Southerton Summer Update Globalization

By Don Southerton, Editor KoreaLegal.org

Just a short summer update.

Over the past months, FTA, Samsung–Apple, Google, Lone Star KEB, FDI, franchise law, and international job recruitment have been the dominated Korea-facing legal issues. That said, there are local Korean cases that warrant attention, but my focus tends to be global. In fact, most of the articles I provide commentary illustrate the globalization of Korean business. I see this daily in my work–with Korean global firms overseas’ operations, with global firms entering the Korean market, or with global brands looking to provide services to Korean-facing firms.

This trend will continue. In turn it is inevitable that more legal issues and lawsuits will surface.

Southerton Summer Update Globalization

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Google Korea Under Government Scrutiny…Again!

Friday, May 6th, 2011
Google Korea Under Government Scrutiny...Again!

By Don Southerton, KoreaLegal.org Editor
Well, Google Korea was back in the news–again. This time it was concerns that Google’s AdMob platform collects data on an individual’s locations via smartphone applications. I hate to sound like a broken record that keeps repeating the same song over and over, but Google is a lightning rod for bad press in Korea. First, they need to recognize they have strong competition in the Korean market. Next, their domestic Korean and American HQ teams need to be highly skilled in coping with issues that attract scrutiny. They need a strategy. Of course, I have a number of suggestions and a strategy. Google, here’s a link to my private email Google Korea Under Government Scrutiny...Again! LINK

SEOUL, May 3 (Yonhap) — Seoul police on Tuesday raided Google Korea’s head office in southern Seoul on suspicion that the global search company had used its mobile advertising platform to illegally collect private data, officials said.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA) sent its investigators to the local office of Google Inc. in Yeoksam-dong, southern Seoul, at 10:30 a.m. to secure hard drives and other computer data related to the company’s “AdMob” platform, said the officials.

“The raid on Google Korea was carried out to confirm the allegations that Google’s AdMob platform was used to collect data on individuals’ locations via smartphone applications,” an SMPA official said.

The official said the SMPA will summon Google Korea executives as soon as an analysis of the confiscated materials and documents is completed.

Recently, suspicions have surfaced that smartphones powered by Google’s Android operating system collect data on users’ location, the names of wireless networks that they use and the density of those signals before sending them to Google.

 

In January this year, the South Korean police booked Google on charges of collecting personal data from Wi-Fi networks for its mapping service in violation of the nation’s telecommunications law.

Google Korea Under Government Scrutiny...Again!

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Google Korea back in the news, again

Saturday, April 16th, 2011
Google Korea back in the news, again

By Don Southerton, KoreaLegal.org Editor

Google is back in the Korean media again. They seem to be a lightning rod for bad press in Korea. First, they need to recognize they have strong competition in the Korean market. Next, their Korean team needs to be highly skilled in coping with issue that attract scrutiny. They need a strategy. Of course, I have a number of suggestions…. Google Korea back in the news, again

SEOUL—Two South Korean search portals filed a complaint Friday with the country’s Fair Trade Commission against Google Inc. for allegedly limiting their access to smartphones using the Android operating system.

NHN Corp.—the owner of Naver, South Korea’s biggest Internet search engine by revenue—and Daum Communications Corp. called for the antitrust regulator to investigate their claims that Google is restricting local mobile service providers and Android smartphone manufacturers from preloading some mobile search window applications, including their own, on smartphones.

The companies also asked the regulator whether such a restriction constituted an unfair business practice.

“Through a marketing partnership with major smartphone producers, Google has prohibited other market players from preinstalling their search window or related applications,” NHN said in a statement.

A Google spokesman said the company hasn’t yet been contacted by South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission. “We…will work with them to address any questions they may have,” the spokesman said. “But Android is an open platform and carrier partners are free to decide which applications and services to include on their Android phones.”

Android smartphones sold in South Korea provide the Google search engine by default. Korean search portals complained that this makes it very inconvenient for phone owners to switch to a different search window.

Android phone users in South Korea can download and install rival search portal applications on their phones, but Daum and NHN say they aren’t able to have these applications installed on the phones prior to purchase.

Naver has a market share of around 56% in the domestic mobile search market, while Daum has around 16% as of last month, according to Korea-based market researcher Metrix Corp.

“Google’s market share in the local Internet search market only accounts for around 2% but due to such an unfair act, its share in the mobile market is fast rising in Korea, and it stands at around 15%,” a NHN spokesman said.

Daum confirmed it jointly filed the complaint Friday with its South Korean rival.

U.S.-based Skyhook Wireless Inc. filed a similar complaint against Google in the Massachusetts Superior Court in September, alleging the search giant cost it tens of million of dollars by interfering with a contract to put its mapping technology on Motorola Inc. phones.

In March, Microsoft Corp. submitted an antitrust complaint with the European Commission, claiming Google restricts the ability of Microsoft’s Bing search engine and its Windows Mobile phone apps to find and return links to YouTube videos. Google owns YouTube.

SOURCE : http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703983104576264012635638314.html#ixzz1Jdl4FQN9

 

Google Korea back in the news, again

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Google Korea Privacy Issues

Saturday, January 8th, 2011
Google Korea Privacy Issues

By Don Southerton, Korealegal.org Editor
Google Korea and privacy issues continue to surface. As noted in a previous KoreaLegal.org post in August 2010 (LINK) and covered by global media including the Wall Street Journal, Google’s Street View project has draw much attention. Criminal charges might be forthcoming.

Google amassed e-mails, chats
January 07, 2011

The National Police Agency’s cybercrime unit yesterday said they found evidence that Google illegally collected private data while producing its Street View mapping service.

Last August, police confiscated 79 hard disks at Google’s Seoul office in Yeoksam-dong, southern Seoul. After decoding passwords on the disks, which took several months, “We discovered e-mails and online chats individuals exchanged through [unencrypted] Wi-Fi networks,” said a police official.

The police said they have been investigating 10 Google employees in Korea and in the United States. Similar investigations are taking place in 16 other countries, including the U.S., Canada, Spain, Australia and Germany.

Korea is the first to have found evidence, police said.

Google Street View is a popular feature that offers panoramic views of street scenes in many cities around the world.

Google started collecting street images in Korea since October 2009 by using SUVs equipped with nine cameras.

The photographing did not violate law, but critics have argued that the search engine company does not pay enough attention to privacy issues when it collects mapping data.

“Personnel at Google headquarters who gave the instructions to collect data will be subject to penalty,” police said.

By Song Ji-hye [enational@joongang.co.kr]
Source: LINK

Google Korea Privacy Issues

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Google’s Korea Office Raided

Saturday, August 14th, 2010
Googles Korea Office Raided

By Don Southerton, Korea Legal.org Editor

Culminating in a recent raid on Google’s South Korean office, issues continue to surface regarding data mining, data collection (intentional and unintentional), and privacy. We’ll have to see how things unfold.  BTW I like the service under scrutiny–  Google’s Street View, which gives viewers street level view of a map location.

SEOUL—Police raided Google Inc.’s South Korean offices Tuesday to probe potential violations of the country’s telecommunication-privacy law, in the latest move by authorities around the world to ratchet up scrutiny of the Internet search giant’s privacy practices.

The National Police Agency said it is investigating whether the U.S. company collected and stored private information illegally while it prepared for the South Korean launch of its Street View mapping service, which provides panoramic views of streets for Internet search users.

The agency said Google collected information on unspecified users from Wi-Fi wireless network for about six months until May while sweeping through the streets in special vehicles used to assemble street photos for the service.

“We began the probe after having confirmed that the company seized and kept open data as well as unauthorized private communication data collected by its special data-collecting vehicles,” the police said in a statement. Open data refers to data such as businesses’ street addresses that can be kept and stored legally under Korean law.

“We can confirm that the police have visited Google Korea in conjunction with their investigation around data collection by Street View cars. We will cooperate with the investigation and answer any questions they have,” said Lois Kim, a Google spokeswoman.
The raid doesn’t necessarily mean the Internet search giant will face charges. Such raids are common in South Korea as part of initial investigations that often fail to go much further.

Still, the raid will likely keep a spotlight on Street View. A number of U.S. states have joined in on an investigation of whether privacy laws were broken when Google’s Street View vehicles collected personal data of unsuspecting Internet users. Authorities in the Italy, Spain, Germany and Australia are investigating the service.

Also Tuesday, Google said it plans to introduce its Street View feature for 20 of Germany’s largest cities, including Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt, before the end of the year.

At the insistence of authorities, the faces of individuals and licenses plates will be blurred. People can also ask to have images of their homes removed from the database starting next week, a move aimed at dispelling privacy fears, the Associated Press reported.

“This tool available before the launch of the service is unique to Germany,” Google spokeswoman Lena Wagner said Tuesday, according to the AP.

Google said in May that the roving vehicles it uses to create its Street View program had for years inadvertently collected data over public, unsecured Wi-Fi networks. Google has said the collection was a “mistake” but that the company “did nothing illegal.”

Google has a weak presence in the South Korean market, where local search portal sites such as NHN’s Naver, Daum Communications and others enjoy a comfortable dominance near 90% of the market.

Privacy concerns have been also emerged around Daum’s Road View, which is similar to the Street View and started January 2009. The company has taken several steps to protect privacy such as blurring people’s faces on photos.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704164904575421033257417518.html#ixzz0wWd0pXDR

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Googles Korea Office Raided

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