Samsung may lose the right to sell over 60 of its smartphones in Russia over a new patent dispute

Samsung is one of a few OEMs to run a first-party contactless transactional system that has been taken up into typical use in multiple national markets. One of these is Russia, in which the South Korean behemoth has achieved a ~17% share of the on-device-payments market. However, this success has drawn the ire of another company that believes its IP has been used in its achievement.

Squin SA is based in Switzerland, and claims to have filed a relevant patent for a "system of online transactions" with the Russian authorities in 2013. This was apparently granted in 2019. Samsung Pay, on the other hand, has been in use in the same country since 2016.

Accordingly, has gone to the Moscow Arbitration Court to make its case in that Samsung Electronics Russia has been infringing on its patent since that date. The court has ruled in its favor, which means the OEM may have to take up to 61 products off Russian shelves permanently should it lose its appeal of this ruling.

That decision will be made in about the next 30 days. In the meantime, Samsung faces a halt to the sale of its latest flagships, the Galaxy Z Fold3, Z Flip3 and S21 series included.

Should the court ultimately uphold Squin SA's complaint, Russian consumers will also have to face a complete absence of new Galaxy S8-, S9-, S10-, Note 10- and Note 20-series devices to buy within their borders as well.

Furthermore, the Swiss firm might next come after Google Pay- and Apple Pay- (#1 and #2 in this market respectively) enabled devices on the same basis.

Purchase the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra on Amazon