Apple win another round against Samsung tablet

Apple have won another round against Samsung Electronics in the battle to ban the Galaxy Tab 10.1 from the market. The latest injunction in Germany against Samsung was won yesterday.

The Dusseldorf court have upheld a preliminary injunction against the Galaxy 10.1 tablet, which has been heralded as the most viable alternative against the iPad in the last year.

Samsung are not letting the ban rest however and are appealing the injunction. The Wall Street Journal say that a ruling “on whether the Galaxy is too similar to the iPad remains subject to a later trial.”

The patent fight is heating up between Apple and Google Android partners. We reported earlier this week that Google intervened directly against Apple, offering them some patent ownership to help strengthen their case.

While the block on sales is damaging for Samsung, tablet sales are only a small portion of their overall revenue. They have shipped around 2 million tablets in the first half of the year while Apple have shipped almost 14 million iPads during the same time frame.

Apple are also fighting Samsung in the smartphone sector. The Samsung Dutch subsidiaries can't sell the Galaxy S, S II and Ace smartphones across Europe from October 13th due to a violation of Apple's patent on ‘a scrolling method and browsing gallery'.

According to the WSJ however “Under the Dutch ruling, the parent company can still sell the phones in Europe, other than in the Netherlands. Likewise, Friday's court ruling in Düsseldorf on tablet sales doesn't affect Samsung Electronics Co. and its European subsidiaries outside of Germany. However, its German arm is barred from selling the PC Galaxy across much of Europe.”

Kitguru says: It is getting more complicated by the week, but Apple are continuing to target many Android makers for breaches of patent use.

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