Apple has added another complaint to its ongoing patent infringement lawsuit with Samsung, claiming that Google Now violates Siri patents. Florian Mueller of Foss Patents reports that in an amendment to its current court case, Apple says that Samsung infringed upon patents 8,086,604 and 6,846,959, both entitled "Universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system."
In practice, this "universal interface" is Siri, and by using Google's Google Now technology in its devices, Apple claims Samsung has violated these patents. Apple has previously filed similar complaints about the use of the Android Quick Search Box, but Samsung recently replaced this feature with Google Now, prompting the amendment and shifted focus.
It's interesting to see Apple targeting Samsung for violation of Siri patents instead of going after the source of Google Now, Google. This may just be a preamble to a larger court battle against Google, as a victory in this case against Samsung could set a precedent for future suits involving the technologies in question. In the meantime, the complaints strengthen Apple's case against Samsung while they push for an injunction against some of their devices in the U.S.
In addition to '604 and '959, Apple amended the complaint to include three other Apple-owned patents: