Summer turns to fall this week, but aside from the arrival of football season it is business as usual for the Apple legal team. Samsung is looking to get some points on the courtroom scoreboard fast and has resorted to some trick plays before the inevitable lawsuits kickoff with the next iPhone. Meanwhile, HTC may end up with a fresh set of downs here in the U.S. after an official review by the International Trade Commission.

Join us for another two-minute drill as we review the big events this past week involving Apple and their legal team on the courtroom gridiron.

Apple vs. Samsung (Korea)

Apparently Samsung wants to get a jump on the inevitable lawsuits that will pop up once the next iPhone comes out. According to the Korea Times, Samsung is practicing now for a play to completely ban sales of the alleged iPhone 5, whenever it actually goes on sale in Korea.

The report quotes sources and Samsung insiders, including a Samsung senior executive who said, "Just after the arrival of the iPhone 5 here, Samsung plans to take Apple to court here for its violation of Samsung’s wireless technology patents."

It was, according to the sources, the developments banning the Galaxy in Germany that caused Samsung to recently become more aggressive in court. "We are taking different tactics since we are quite confident," said another Samsung executive.

Samsung is bringing the fight to Cupertino.

However, not all of Samsung is excited to go hard in court against their biggest customer. The next iPhone is likely to use Samsung’s NAND flash memories and application processors (APs), and that is a lot of business to potentially lose if things get really sour between the two companies. 

Samsung’s CEO Choi Gee-sung echoed this sentiment. "Apple is Samsung’s biggest customer. From our perspective, we are not entirely happy (about the litigations)," he said.

Happy or not, planning an onside kick in the Korean courtroom for the launch of the next iPhone doesn't make for happy business partners.

Apple vs. Samsung (Australia)

Demonstrating a new "we have lawyers, too" attitude, Samsung filed a counterclaim against Apple last Friday in Australia, according to Reuters. The new suit claims that both the iPad and iPhone infringe on patents previously held by Samsung. It also asks the court to dismiss Apple’s previous lawsuit agains the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Apple and Samsung have been very active in Australia since Apple originally filed suit there. Although Samsung does not believe their device infringes on any Apple patent, they nonetheless agreed last month to stop selling and advertising their Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia until the suit is settled.

This countersuit by Samsung is either bold play based on some new information, or it is a hail mary pass out of desperation. Either way, it appears that hoped-for settlement Down Under is not anywhere on the near horizon.

Apple vs. HTC (United States)

In July, the United States International Trade Commission ruled that HTC infringed on two of Apple’s patents. 

That initial win for Apple could have led to the banning of HTC’s Android smartphones in the US, but last week Bloomberg reported that the ruling on the field is going to the booth for review.

Apparently, the ITC will now review four patents, the two from the July ruling as well as two additional patents that cover the way HTC controls the OS on its devices.

Nokia was included in Apple’s original ITC complaint, but the Finnish company settled with Apple in June, a development that the ITC will consider when reviewing the case.

Adam Emery, HTC’s spokesman, told Bloomberg that his company welcomed the review of the case, and that HTC was "confident in our case."

HTC seems resigned to their judicial fate here in the U.S., previously stating that no matter the outcome of the case, there are "alternate solutions in place." Now it sounds like it is game on if the referees call things their way.

Adrian covers daily news as well as the weekly Law & Apple column for MacLife.com. You can follow him on Twitter, if you want to.