Samsung Pay may be banned in Russia. Apple Pay and Google Pay are also under threat

According to Kommersant, Samsung Pay, which occupies 17% of the Russian payment services market, may be banned in the country due to a patent dispute. Earlier, the Swiss company Skwin SA filed a lawsuit against Samsung Electronics Rus Company and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. for the use of the invention under the patent No. 2686003 without the consent of the copyright holder, which she herself is. The Moscow Arbitration Court satisfied this claim. From the minutes of the court’s decision, it follows that in Russia, the operation of the Samsung Pay payment service and the import of devices that support it into the country are actually prohibited. Samsung can appeal the decision within 30 days or it will go into effect.

The Squin SA patent describes the invention “for making an online payment using the buyer’s mobile device and the seller’s cash system“. An application for it in Russia was filed in 2013, and the Samsung Pay system was launched in Russia in 2016. The court, referring to experts, came to the conclusion that Samsung Pay really uses the technologies of the Swiss company patent.

Samsung Electronics is studying court documents. Wherein “no changes to Samsung’s operations are currently planned“. Experts believe that the ban on Samsung Pay in Russia will not come. The decision of the court can be appealed, and the patent can be challenged. Ultimately, you can negotiate with the copyright holder.

As a last resort, when the court decision comes into force, Samsung will not be obliged to stop selling devices with support for the payment system – it will only need to stop preinstalling it on smartphones. Nevertheless, as noted by the senior partner of the law firm Versus.legal Alexander Kurdyumova, while the patent dispute is not settled, other payment systems – Apple Pay and Google Pay are also under threat: the technologies used in them bear signs of technologies of patent No. 2686003.