Samsung Files Patent Lawsuit Against Apple’s Notification Center

Samsung Electronics has filed a patent lawsuit against chief competitor Apple, Inc. In the lawsuit, the company claims that Apple’s Notification center violates its patent holdings.

The Apple notification center debuted nearly two years ago and is similar in scope to the Android State Bar for which Google, Inc. holds a US patent. Apple’s offering has been so successful that it recently ported the Notifications Center to Mac OS X Mountain Lion.

News of the lawsuit was revealed by a South Korean news site, which claims that Samsung believes its patent is not “standard essential” and, therefore, Apple is in violation of its use. Other patents Samsung has sued Apple over have typically been considered standard essential.

The report does not assert if Samsung is suing over the use of a Google patent or a similar filing of its own. Analysts have largely agreed that Apple’s notification center is largely its own take on the Android phone standard, right down to Facebook and Twitter integration standards.

According to iPodNN:

“Notification Center can show updates in email, Messages, texts, weather, calendar events and individual app alerts through a drag-down screen that is universally accessible on iOS devices. Users can “customize” the information shown by choosing to allow or disallow certain apps to show alerts in the Notification Center through preferences.”

Samsung has not stated which parts of the Apple Notification Center violates its patent holdings. It is not believed that Samsung offered a licensing agreement to Apple, a harsh move likely brought about after the Apple was awarded $1.1 billion against Samsung.