Samsung faces lawsuit over biometric tech in Galaxy smartphones

We've seen Samsung defending its smartphones in the court room plenty of times over the years, but there is always another lawsuit around the corner. This week, a lesser-known US data security firm filed a case against Samsung, claiming that the Galaxy series infringes on biometric authentication patents.

PACid is claiming that several Samsung Galaxy smartphones have infringed on three of its patents, which cover biometric authentications, like fingerprint or iris scanners. Samsung has used both of these technologies in flagship devices in the past and continues to do so today. PACid claims that Samsung has been aware of the patent infringement claim since January last year.

Aside from biometrics, PACid claims that the Samsung Pass and Knox software also infringe on patents. It'll be a long road before we see any kind of ruling, but if a judge ends up ruling in PACid's favor, then Samsung could face a maximum penalty of around $2.8 billion- though a damages award that high is unlikely.

This news comes in just a few days after Apple lost a lawsuit to VirnetX, a company that bases its business model solely on hoarding patents and sending lawyers after product creators. Reports have suggested that PACid's business model is similar, for reference, PACid has leveraged lawsuits against Nintendo and Apple in the past. In both cases, out of court settlements were made.

KitGuru Says: Apple was ordered to pay $502 million in its loss against VirnetX. With that in mind, if a judge ends up siding with PACid on this, then Samsung could have to shell out more money than most will see in a lifetime.

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