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Topic: Apple

Apple wins Samsung Galaxy tablet ban in Australia

Summary: An Australian court has temporarily blocked the sale of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the continent; a victory for Apple.

Zack Whittaker

By for Between the Lines |

An Australian court has blocked the sale of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the country, as the patent dispute between Apple and Samsung continues.

The court sided on two of the patents Apple alleged the company had infringed, issuing the temporary injunction against sales. The ban will run until the same court rules on the core patent issue, Reuters said.

Samsung had fought back against the ban, as the companies continue to battle out the alleged infringement of patents in over twenty jurisdictions since April, when the disputes began.

As Reuters report, resolution of the case could take months to complete, unless Samsung opts for an expedited hearing, which could result in the tablet never launching in the continent.

Australia's tablet economy is not the strongest, compared to Europe, with less than 25 million citizens across the continent. However, the Android-powered tablet is seen as the only viable competitor to Apple's iPad. The more important ruling comes next week when a Californian court will hear Apple's reasons why the wider Galaxy range of products should be blocked for sale in the United States.

Apple had accused Samsung of infringing seven Australian patents relating to wireless networking in Apple's third and fourth generation iPhones and iPad 2 devices.

But Samsung still holds the Android majority marketshare in Australia and North America, as Google's mobile operating system could suffer as a result of the ban.

Apple already won a victory in Germany, banning the Galaxy Tab 10.1 across Europe, forcing Samsung to pull the tablet from the IFA trade show in Berlin -- one of the world's largest technology events. The ban spread across Europe, but was reduced a few days later to uphold the ban in Germany, after concerns were met about the court's power in imposing a Europe-wide embargo.

Samsung said it would attempt to ban the sale of Apple's next-generation smartphone, the iPhone 4S in France and Italy, accusing the company of infringing its cellular patents.

Read more at ZDNet Australia: Apple wins injunction against Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Related:

Topics: Apple, Hardware, Laptops, Mobility, Samsung, Tablets

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28 comments
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  • people are outraged over Apple's abuse of patent law

    Apple should back down immediately and allow competition to flourish for the sake of people's will and advancing the state of the art.
    The Linux Geek
    Reply Vote

    • Go back to your palace of Linux Geekdom

      @The Linux Geek

      It's done. "Linux" is going nowhere on tablets or desktop computers. It's a two horse race between iOS and Android. While you can whine all you want that Android is a derivative, it is successful exactly because it clamps down on groupies who have nothing better to do than pretend that an OS is a religion.

      Go practice your Ubuntu. Or, if you prefer the outdoors, put on a Red Hat, grab some binoculars, and seek the elusive Gentoo. At least you'll get some fresh air. And so will we.
      croberts
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Apple wins Samsung Galaxy tablet ban in Australia

        @croberts

        " we " ?
        Jobs is dead, get over it...
        Kaptah
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Apple wins Samsung Galaxy tablet ban in Australia

        @Kaptah

        [b]Jobs is dead, get over it...[/b]

        And you are a trolling douche-bag with no respect. Get over yourself.
        athynz
        Reply Vote

    • You are wrong, people aren't outraged at all

      @The Linux Geek
      People are cheering this court imposed monopoly. Just look below at posts from doh123 and browser.
      toddybottom
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Apple wins Samsung Galaxy tablet ban in Australia

        @toddybottom
        are you 'high' on something?
        people are ready to revolt in the streets of Sydney over this despicable ruling!
        The Linux Geek
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Apple wins Samsung Galaxy tablet ban in Australia

        @toddybottom Yup people are cheering because Samsung got caught blatantly ripping off the look of the iPad right down to the packaging and they are getting what they deserve.

        @The Linux Geek People are not ready to revolt in Sydney... nice try though thanks for playing.
        athynz
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Apple wins Samsung Galaxy tablet ban in Australia

      @The Linux Geek In other words keep letting Samsung steal from Apple because they make and Android tablet and you hate Apple. Yeah.... ummmm no, just no.
      athynz
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Apple wins Samsung Galaxy tablet ban in Australia

    Well luckily i got my hands on one, but this is still ridiculous.
    Frenz9
    Reply Vote

  • Apple just won a court imposed monopoly

    "However, the Android-powered tablet is seen as the only viable competitor to Apple???s iPad."

    Congratulations to Apple.

    Australian consumers won today.

    Less competition is better.
    toddybottom
    Reply Vote

    • Less blatant stealing is better; Samsung went too outrageously far with ...

      @toddybottom: ... their copying of Apple's physical and UI designs: box and whole package, charger, cable, all-flat-screen (never available on tablets before iPad) form factor, the capacitive multi-touch UI elements.

      So of course <b>Samsung deserves the punishment.</b> They just have to hire their own designers and that is it.
      DDERSSS
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Apple wins Samsung Galaxy tablet ban in Australia

        @DeRSSS

        Your saying the Galaxy Tab wasnt designed by Samsung?
        ConceptVBS
        Reply Vote

      • Clearly Samsung deserves to be punished, 2 courts of law have stated it

        @DeRSSS
        While I personally think it is unfair that Samsung can't take a design they have used for years on all their other products (black bezel, flat front, rounded corners) clearly those with far more clout than I have deemed that there is enough there to warrant an injunction. Your opinion on this doesn't matter. My opinion on this doesn't matter. Only the court's opinion matters.

        It does, however, prove my point that the market is a sick market. When the only viable competitor (these are the words from the article) is removed from the market by the courts, Australian and German consumers are left with a court ordered monopoly.

        In most cases monopolies are a symptom of a sick market. Exceptions do exist where ecnomies of scale are the only way of making a product / service affordable to a population too small to support multiple providers but the worldwide tablet market is not an example of this.

        My point all along is that the iPad market is a sick market.

        Sick markets are not good for consumers.

        We all lose.
        toddybottom
        Reply Vote

  • RE: Apple wins Samsung Galaxy tablet ban in Australia

    Points back to the Apple concept that they really don't understand why everyone doesn't love their products. In a recent interview Woz said that Steve was befuddled that Windows ended up dominating the PC market and not the Mac. He couldn't understand why people picked Microsoft over Apple at the time. Other commentary over the years constantly points back to the belief within Apple that they believe they're everything to everyone and so when people choose competing products they can't fathom why that is happening. I think they simply can't fathom a world where iOS isn't pulling in a 95% market share.
    Ididar
    Reply Vote

    • Nobody picked DOS

      <ul><i>He couldn't understand why people picked Microsoft over Apple at the time. </i></ul><p>They didn't. People picked IBM over Apple. Nobody had ever heard of Microsoft; DOS just happened to come in the box with the IBM PC.

      There's no denying that Gates & Co. made the most of that opportunity, but the idea that Microsoft was "chosen" on the basis of a comparison to Apple products is hogwash. The IBM PC laid waste to the entire computer industry, killing one company after another. In fact the only computer company (other than IBM) who is still with us today is HP, and they accomplished that by spending years hiding on the shelves of the computer stores as a printer company.
      Robert Hahn
      Reply Vote

      • Interesting history lesson

        @Robert Hahn
        "The IBM PC laid waste to the entire computer industry, killing one company after another."

        Interesting then to see Apple do the same today.
        toddybottom
        Reply Vote

  • RE: Apple wins Samsung Galaxy tablet ban in Australia

    the patent laws need to be reformed, this is getting ridiculous.
    qjqqyy
    Reply Vote

    • Samsung management needs to be reformed; they act like a Chinese no-name ..

      @qjqqyy: ... producers of iPones and iPeds, or Abibas shoes, Rolix watch, and so on.

      They only do minimal changes to avoid being immediately closed by authorities for making forged Apple's products. Yet their product infringe "trade dress" laws.
      DDERSSS
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Apple wins Samsung Galaxy tablet ban in Australia

    If Apple had no legal rights.. it would be ridiculous. The fact the judges can see that Apple has a legal issue here should show all the Apple haters that you cannot just roll over and let other companies steam roll you by copying things you have protected by law. You do not have to agree with the law, but you must follow it.
    doh123
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Apple wins Samsung Galaxy tablet ban in Australia

    Have any of you Apple haters taken a second to think that this case may have some merit? That Samsung ACTUALLY did what Apple is accusing them of doing? What - courts around the world are paid Apple schills as well? <br><br>I'm all for innovation and competition across every sphere of industry but if a company spends miilion/billions of dollars on R&D - other companies should not be allowed to copy/steal the fruits of the labor/expense in the name of competition.
    jamboy34
    Reply Vote
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