LG Claims Samsung’s Eye Tracking Software Might Violate Patent

The Samsung Galaxy S4 possibly uses a new type of eye-tracking software that LG believes violates one of its own patents.

LG on Tuesday claimed that its South Korean competitor may have violated the company’s patent which pauses video clips when a user turns their head away from the video they are watching.

During the Samsung Galaxy S4 event last week, the company announced the new feature as one of the smartphones best new options.

Samsung, however, was very clear in stating that it does not actually use eye-tracking technology but rather facial recognition software.

It is not clear at this time if Samsung used the “facial recognition” term on purpose to avoid LG patent comparisons or if the technology used by Samsung is in fact different than LG’s own eye-tracking software patents.

The LG patent involves understanding the exact position of a users eyes, thus determining if a video should continue playing or pause until the user looks back at their smartphones display.

LG applied for its eye tracking patenting in 2009 while Samsung applied for its own “Eye Pause” technology in February 2013.

There is a very real possibility that LG is simply responding to a previously filed lawsuit by Samsung. The original lawsuit claimed that LG violated one of Samsung’s patent filing for LCD displays.

At CES 2013, Samsung was once again at LG’s throat. Just hours before LG was meant to unveil the “world’s first curved OLED TV,” its rival unveiled its own offering, thus claiming the “world’s first” title from LG.

Patent lawsuits arrive faster than the technology they are fighting against these days, a fact that has led many industry leaders to demand changes to current laws.

Do you think the patent system has become too easy to game and should therefore be reworked to better benefit businesses and consumers?