Apple Sues Samsung, But Wants to Stay Friends

Apple said it wants to maintain good relations with Samsung despite suing the South Korean electronics giant , underscoring the companies' mutual dependence on each other and raising questions about the nature of patent lawsuits. While Apple on Thursday filed a lawsuit alleging the South Korean electronics giant copied its iPhone and iPad designs, the Cupertino-based company says itwants to maintain a healthy relationship with Samsung. This makes sense since Samsung is Apple's chief manufacturer and Apple is Samsung's largest customer in some sectors. Apple's Chief Operating Officer, Tim Cook, said Samsung's mobile division "crossed the line" when it supposedly used Apple's designs for its Galaxy Tab , but he still expects the companies' "strong relationship will continue." Samsung, which coutersued Apple , said it will respond actively to protect its intellectualproperty, but can't go much further in bashing Apple since the computer company buys millions of its LCD panels and semiconductors. In fact Apple made up 4 percent of Samsung's 142 billion revenue in 2010; Samsung needs this money too since its profits dropped this winter. Apple is no stranger to lawsuits. HTC , Nokia , Microsoft and Motorola have all been in the company's legal cross-hairs. But of course if Apple alienated all these companies, some of which it supplies and works with, the company would be hurting, and it's clearly not, after nearly doubling quarterly profits . Patent-centered lawsuits, of course, have been escalating as companies sue one another over alleged infringement. Apple's aggressive suit of a major partner, however, may actually be a proxy war on Google's Android platform. The open source OS running on handsets from a bevy of manufacturers has gulped substantial marketshare from Apple's iOS and RIM's BlackBerry since it hit the mobile scene at the end of 2008.