Last week Apple won a fairly significant victory in its ongoing battle with Korean electronics giant Samsung – they persuaded an Australian court to ban sales and promotion of Samsung’s latest Android tablet, the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Now a court in Germany has also sided with Apple, resulting in a Europe-wide ban on sales of the device.
Although the Australian ban was the result of a patent infringement suit, the EU ban stems from an entirely separate trademark suit in which Apple is claiming Samsung aped the design of the iPad for their own tablet – going so far as to call it “blatant copying”.
Of course, Samsung will most likely appeal the decision and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 could be back on European shelves before long (German courts have a reputation for being somewhat heavy-handed in patent and trademark suits – Chinese manufacturers are routinely thrown out of German trade shows for “paying homage to” more established manufacturers), but nonetheless this is another blow for Samsung, who seem increasingly on the back foot in their battle with Apple’s small army of legal staff.
The ban comes into effect straight away, so if you’re in the market for a Galaxy Tab 10.1 now might be a good time to run down to your local supplier and snap one up before they’re pulled from shelves. The tablet will still be available in the Netherlands for the time being due to differences in their legal system.
Apple has a reputation for both fiercely defending its intellectual property and racking up some somewhat questionable patents and trademarks. Many would argue that there’s not much credence in holding a design trademark on what is essentially a thin slab of metal and glass, but Samsung’s tablet does seem somewhat more “iPad-y” than its Android brethren such as the ASUS Eee Pad or the Motorola Xoom.
