Looks like Apple is feeling a tad litigious. Earlier today we learned that the company recently filed an ITC complaint against HTC, and now it's been revealed that Apple has asked a court to add the Samsung Galaxy S III to its request for a preliminary injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Nexus that was filed in early February. In its motion, which was filed yesterday, Apple explains that it obtained a Galaxy S III in the U.K. and that it feels that the device "clearly infringes at least two" of the patents asserted in its motion for an injunction against the Galaxy Nexus. Those two patents are #8,086,604, related to unified search, and #5,946,647, which is the same "data tapping" patent mentioned in the new ITC complaint against HTC and the complaint from back in December.

Apple says that it's limiting its claim against the Galaxy S III to two patents for now because it feels that it's "clear that infringement can be shown" with them and it wants an injunction as soon as possible. In the filing, Apple cites reports that Samsung may have sold nine million pre-orders for the Galaxy S III, and the Cupertino firm says that it's imperative that the court has a chance to rule on Apple's request for an injunction before the Galaxy S III's U.S. launch. The filing also notes that Apple asked Samsung to delay the U.S. launch of the Galaxy S III until the court does issue a ruling. Samsung denied Apple's request, stating that Apple's motion "will have no bearing on the release date of the Galaxy S III."

Apple has gone after several Samsung products in the past, including the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Galaxy S, and considering that the Galaxy S III is Samsung's new flagship handset, it's not a surprise to see that the Cupertino firm has decided to go after it as well. Whether or not the Galaxy S III's U.S. debut will actually be affected by this motion remains to be seen, but it certainly looks like Apple is doing all that it can to stop the GSIII's trek to U.S. shelves. More on this as we get it.

UPDATE: Samsung sent us its statement on the matter, explaining that it believes that Apple's motion is without merit and that it plans to "vigorously oppose" it. The company also says that the U.S. launch of the Galaxy S III will go on as planned. The full statement is below:

"Samsung believes Apple’s request is without merit. We will vigorously oppose the request and demonstrate to the court that the GALAXY S III is innovative and distinctive.

We would also like to assure consumers that the U.S. launch and sales of the GALAXY S III will proceed as planned.  The GALAXY S III has already been highly received in markets where it has been introduced. 

Samsung looks forward to bringing the GALAXY S III to the U.S., and we believe that Apple’s actions would only serve to disrupt consumers’ access to the latest innovative mobile technology."

Via FOSS Patents