13 October, 2011
By Adnan
Things aren’t looking good when it comes to sales for Samsung’s flagship Android Honeycomb powered tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. In part of an ensuing battle between the two companies, Apple today successfully managed to block Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 sales in Australia which not only happens to be a country, but a continent as well.
Australia’s Federal Court announced in a judgement today that an injunction has been granted to Apple which bans sales of Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia. Apple pleads that Galaxy Tab 10.1 infringes upon two patents and therefore should not be sold. These patents relate to multi-touch and touchscreen technology. Reportedly, Samsung offered that it would remove multi-touch from Galaxy Tab 10.1 however Apple is said to have declined this offer.
In its coverage of the Federal Court ruling, Sydney Morning Herald reports:
The Federal Court has granted Apple an injunction to block tech rival Samsung from selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia.
Apple is suing Samsung for patent infringement, arguing the firm “slavishly” copied its market-leading iPad tablet.
Justice Annabelle Bennett today said Apple had a prima facie case that Samsung had infringed two of its patents relating to touch screens and the gestures that control them.
Furthermore, Justice Annabelle adds:
From April 15 when proceedings commenced in the US, Samsung proceeded with its eyes wide open. The balance of convenience was almost even … there were several factors that favoured Apple
This whole legal spat between Samsung and Apple started off earlier this year in April when the former first sued in USA. Since then, Apple has field lawsuits against Samsung in several countries and Samsung has responded by countersuing Apple. As of now, Galaxy S II sales are blocked in over 30 countries whereas the Galaxy Tab 10.1 sales are banned in Germany as it is.
Following the granting of injunction to Apple, Samsung released the following statement:
Samsung will continue its legal proceeding against Apple’s claim in order to ensure our innovative products remain available to consumers
Apple, which is no doubt happy about having blocked Galaxy Tab 10.1 sales in Australia, also released a statement:
It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging. This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.
The battle shall go between Apple and Samsung. Samsung won’t give up that easily and we’re quite sure that they have a strong defence planned in this lawsuit. Only time will tell how all of this unfolds.
