Apple has succeeded in gaining a preliminary injunction against Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet. At the moment, Samsung has to withdraw the model from sale in all of the European Union countries, except the Netherlands.
Samsung is appealing against the decision and was angry that the ban had been imposed “without any hearing or presentation of evidence from Samsung”, according to a spokesman for the company.
A similar injunction was granted in Australia last week which resulted in Samsung agreeing not to introduce the tablet there until the court reaches a decision. The South Korean company will also be in court in the Netherlands for another hearing that could complete the European Union ban.
The decision is a serious setback, not only for Samsung but for Android tablets generally. Many reviewers saw the Galaxy Tab as the most direct competitor to the iPad and the tablet that would give Apple a run for its money – perhaps the competition has proved to be too direct.
Apple decided to pitch for an intellectual property suit simply because it would result in an automatic EU-wide ban with all member countries but the Netherlands recently agreeing to harmonise their individual laws.
If Samsung’s appeal against this preliminary judgement fails, it could be a year or more before a decision is reached in court. By that time, the Samsung tablet would be long past its sell-by date from a technology viewpoint.
The whole case presents an interesting situation because Samsung is a major supplier of memory chips to Apple but the legal action may drive a wedge between the companies.
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Ovum principal analyst Tony Cripps commented:
“The temporary injunction granted to Apple by a German court will be a short-term blow for Samsung, whose Galaxy Tab 10.1 looks set to be among the strongest threats to the iPad’s current dominance of the tablet market.
“It’s difficult to predict the outcome of the dispute at this stage, but we can expect Samsung to respond quickly to the allegations against its product. However, there will clearly be a short-term impact on Samsung’s tablet sales, given that the ruling is EU wide, except for the Netherlands
“It’s true that companies need to protect their investments in intellectual property and there could yet be grounds for enforcing software changes or license fees on tablet manufacturers that have infringed Apple’s patents. However, any ruling against Samsung on the grounds of similarity in hardware design and appearance between the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the iPad – which is another of Apple’s complaints - would work against the best interests of both the industry and consumers.”