Samsung Galaxy Tab ban lifted in Europe

[nsane.forums]

Ban against Samsung's Galaxy Tab lifted in Europe.

A ban that prevented sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in Europe has been lifted, according to the Dutch publication Webwereld.

Citing confirmation from Peter Schutz, spokesman for the Dusseldorf District Court, IDG's Webwereld (English version) said that Samsung can now resume sales of its Tab tablet throughout Europe, with the exception of Germany. The court ruled that the German court does not have the power to ban sales of the tablet except within its own country.

The lifting of the temporary injunction is in effect at least until Apple and Samsung meet again in court on August 25 to present arguments over the future of Tab sales in Europe.

Over the past several months, the two companies have been mired in a patent lawsuit in which Apple alleges that Samsung illegally copied technology and design aspects of the iPad to create the Galaxy Tab. Last week, Apple was able to convince the German court to issue the temporary injunction banning the sale of the Tab in virtually all nations of the European Union.

Apple yesterday was the object of criticism in another Webwereld story, which concluded that the company had fudged a photo of the Galaxy Tab in a document submitted to the German court. Analyzing photos comparing the Tab with the iPad 2, the publication discovered that the two tablets appeared "practically identical" in length.

But in fact, the Tab is "longer and more oblong than the iPad 2,"according to Webwereld. Specifically, the actual Tab has an aspect ratio of 1.46. But the image of the Tab generated by Apple shows an aspect ratio of 1.36, closer to the iPad's ratio of 1.30.

Webwereld's story didn't indicate that the inaccurate photo had any bearing on today's decision. Instead, it seemed to be more a matter of jurisdiction.

Florian Muller, publisher of the FOSS Patents blog site, said in a blog post today that he believes Samsung stands a "pretty good chance" that this temporary lifting of the ban will be turned into a partial reversal of the preliminary injunction at the August 25 hearing.

Muller called this "an unpleasant situation for Apple" since if the German court is found to have ruled outside its jurisdiction by banning sales for a Korean company, it would "reinforce a lot of people's impression that Apple's enforcement of design-related rights is, even though understandable to a certain degree, overreaching in some areas."

View: Original Article