Apple files lawsuit against Samsung Electronics

The mobile industry is scoured with applications and devices that may accidentally or purposefully emulate already-developed products. Recently, Apple requested a California court block the sale of the Galaxy Nexus developed by Samsung Electronics.

Analyst and intellectual property expert Florian Mueller said that an preliminary injunction wouldn't prohibit the sale of the Galaxy Nexus, as it would depend on whether the court finds the patents are in fact infringed, Vision2Mobile reports.

"Theoretically, Google could remove the functionality protected by any of these patents in order to keep the product on sale, but if it changes the program code of a lead device, this would make it particularly clear to everyone else in the market that there's an infringement issue," Mueller said.

Mobile applications and games are commonly replicated, and while some apps may seem like mirror copies, developers can avoid copyright infringement by making minor changes and tweaks.

For instance, mobile game Angry Frogs is a near carbon-copy of Angry Birds, but because it uses a different animal as the face of the game, it may be able to avoid future lawsuits from developer Rovio.

While Apple is generating major revenue from its recently released iPhone 4S, it will seek retribution from Samsung if the court finds the company's copyrights have been infringed.