这场法律大战开始于今年4月，当时苹果（Apple）在美国加州起诉三星（Samsung），称后者一直在全盘照抄自己iPhone和iPad的设计。现在战斗已进入“核战争”阶段。

    从韩国到英国，苹果和三星已向多家部门提起了贸易诉讼和反诉讼，而上周四，三星又在华盛顿向美国际贸易委员会（U.S. International Trade Commission，简称ITC）提起诉讼。三星指控苹果侵犯了自己五项关键专利，要求ITC发布永久禁令，禁止美国输入由中国制造的苹果iPhone、iPad和iPod touch。

    三星此举也许旨在先发制人。软件专利博客FOSS Patents的弗洛里安•穆勒表示，苹果正准备请求ITC对三星银河（Galaxy）系列产品发布类似禁令，这些产品包括智能手机和平板电脑，和苹果的产品非常像。

    三星是世界上最大的存储芯片制造商，而苹果是其最重要的客户之一。不过不断升级的法律大战可能会危及两者的关系。

    苹果已经表态，将竭尽全力保护自己最赚钱产品的外观和操作手感方面的专利。穆勒表示，从三星的观点来看，“为第三方制造电子元器件的利润相对较低，而把握机遇，成为移动设备领域主要消费品牌才是自己的重心。”

    穆勒表示，“两家公司似乎都相当明确自己的当务之急，他们很可能会撕破脸皮，一拍两散。”

    虽然从目前来看，和解似乎不大可能，不过时间仍然充裕。ITC做出最终裁决还需要16到18个月时间。

    译者：项航

    The legal battle began in April when Apple (AAPL) filed a suit in California accusing Samsung of "slavishly" copying its iPhone and iPad designs has gone nuclear.

    After trading suits and counter suits in several legal venues, from South Korea to the U.K., Samsung on Thursday took its case to the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington. It accused Apple of violating five key Samsung patents and asked the ITC for a permanent ban that would prevent Apple from bringing into the U.S. the iPhones, iPads and iPod touches that it manufacturers in China.

    The move may have been a preemptive strike. According to FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller, Apple was expected to ask the ITC for a similar ban on Samsung's Galaxy product line, which includes smartphones and tablet computers that closely resembles Apple's.

    Samsung is the world largest manufacturer of memory chips and Apple is one of its most important customers. The escalating legal battle, however, seems to have put that relationship at risk.

    Apple has indicated that it will vigorously defend the patents that cover the look and feel of its most profitable products. From Samsung's point of view, writes Mueller, "manufacturing electronics components for third parties is a low-margin business compared to the opportunity of being a major consumer brand for mobile devices."

    "These two companies appear to have set very clear priorities," he says, "and they may be heading for an ugly divorce."

    Although a reconciliation seems unlikely at this point, there is still time. A final decision from the ITC could take 16 to 18 months.