Yonhap News:

Patents are very complicated and can be difficult to identify, Shin [Jong-kyun, Samsung’s mobile president] said, but Samsung tried to ensure that no known patent by Apple is included in the new Android smartphone.Despite such efforts, he could not say with certainty that the Galaxy Nexus, dubbed by media as Google and Samsung’s answer to the iPhone 4S, would be entirely safe from Apple’s legal offense.“We will see if (the Galaxy Nexus) will be 100 percent free,” from Apple lawsuits, he added.

The Galaxy Nexus was unveiled this week; it’s a new Android phone that uses Android 4.0, code-named “Ice Cream Sandwich” – the first version of Google’s Android operating system that merges tablet and cell phone code forks. The Galaxy Nexus is the first phone to run the new OS.

Samsung is in the midst of legal wrangling with Apple in several international courts over alleged patent violations, and so far Samsung has come up short. Shin seems to suggest that he knows fighting with Apple is a losing proposition:

“I don’t think there is much gain (from lawsuits against Apple). What we are losing is the pride in our brand.”