Apple targeted by Samsung, S3 in new suits

Apple this week is once again the target of new lawsuits from companies with which it's already entangled in separate legal battles.

The first salvo comes from Samsung. Bloomberg reports that Samsung filed four suits against the company this week, with the first related hearing in the cases to kick off early next week.

A court representative did not tell the news outlet what the Netherlands suits were about, though Samsung has taken aim at Apple in the U.S., Europe, and other countries for allegedly infringing on its patents, with lawsuits targeting the tech giant's portable devices.

Separately, S3 Graphics filed a suit yesterday against Apple for allegedly infringing on two of its patents covering 3D rendering and VGA controller circuitry. Both patents were issued in the 1990s. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Delaware, takes aim specifically at Apple's iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, along with Apple's desktop and notebook computers, as infringing.

The new S3 suit is of special note given that the two companies had previously been engaged in a legal spat with the U.S. International Trade Commission. That led to the government group issuing a partial ruling against Apple, saying that Mac OS X was violating S3's patents. HTC, which sued Apple in separate suits earlier this month and last month, announced plans to buy S3 from Via Technologies in July.