Samsung not allowed to sell 61 models of its smartphones in Russia due to patent infringement

Samsung has been in a fierce legal battle in Russia with a patent infringement in connection with its Samsung Pay service. Russian courts have initially ruled that Samsung should stop importing and selling up to 61 models of its smartphones running Samsung Pay, including the top of the Galaxy Z Fold3 and Z Flip3 series over allegations that Samsung Pay is infringing a patent from Swiss-based mobile payment company Sqwin Sa. Samsung has appealed the decisions and is not yet legal in stopping the sale of its phones.

The problem dates back to 2013, when Victor Gulchenko filed a patent for an online transaction system, which was then registered in April 2019 and granted to Sqwin Sa. Samsung Pay was introduced in 2015 and took its way to Russia a year later in 2016.

As of today, Samsung Pay is considered the third most used contactless payment system in Russia with 17% of transactions, after Apple Pay (30%) and Google Pay (32%). According to legal experts, the latter two services may also fall victim to Sqwin Sa’s patent.

Source (in Russian)