The work in Russia of the payment system Samsung Pay, which has a market share of 17%, may be banned because of the patent dispute. The court supported the claims of the copyright holder of a patent for an electronic payment system, who accuses the Korean concern of illegal use of technology. The court decided that Samsung Pay really uses the Squin SA technology.
Thus, the court in fact prohibited the use of the service in Russia. In addition, the importation of devices that support Samsung Pay falls under the ban.
"While the patent is valid, Apple Pay and Google Pay services are also under threat of being banned in the event of a legal dispute," adds Alexandra Kurdyumova, senior partner at law firm Versus.legal.
The South Korean company and its representative office in Russia may appeal the court's decision within a month. Maxim Labzin, senior partner of the law firm Intellect, noted that the company has three ways out of this situation: to challenge the court's verdict in a higher instance, to prove that the patent was not new, and to negotiate with the plaintiff.
If they fail to appeal, the company itself will have to block its payment system on the territory of Russia. Or Roskomnadzor will do it.
Sergey Vakulin, a hacker and expert on information and computer security, noted that if Roskomnadzor starts blocking, then all Samsung resources will be banned because the blocking is carried out by DPI and IP addresses blocking.
Experts are sure that contactless payments are popular among Russians, so the restriction is unlikely to be long-term. Most likely, a compromise will be found, in which Samsung users will be able to use contactless payment with a smartphone.
