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Topic: Tablets

Apple wins U.S. sales injunction against Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Summary: Apple has won a preliminary injunction barring U.S. sales of Samsung's iPad rival, the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Zack Whittaker

By for Between the Lines |

Apple has prevailed in seeking a preliminary sales injunction against Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet over the alleged infringement of the iPad's patented design.

The win marks a major victory for Apple in the ongoing "thermonuclear war" against rival mobile operating system Google's Android.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh previously rejected Apple's attempt to block the tablet in the U.S., but was forced to reconsider her position following an appeals court ruling.

Once Apple posts a $2.6 million bond to protect Samsung against damages should the injunction be appealed and overturned, the sales ban can come into force.

"Although Samsung has a right to compete, it does not have a right to compete unfairly, by flooding the market with infringing products," Koh wrote on Tuesday.

"While Samsung will certainly suffer lost sales from the issuance of an injunction, the hardship to Apple of having to directly compete with Samsung’s infringing products outweighs Samsung’s harm in light of the previous findings by the Court."

Samsung will likely appeal the ruling, though a spokesperson was unavailable for comment at the time of writing to confirm the company's next move.

A Samsung statement said: "Should Apple continue to make legal claims based on such a generic design patent, design innovation and progress in the industry could be restricted."

An Apple spokesperson said that "this kind of blatant copying is wrong and, as we've said many times before, we need to protect Apple's intellectual property when companies steal our ideas," reiterating an earlier company statement. The Cupertino-based company did not say when --- or even if --- the bond would be posted.

The case hinges on a single design patent owned by Apple that protects the aesthetics of its iPad tablet. But many have argued the patent is too broad and could stifle innovation in the burgeoning tablet market.

Apple has more than 60 percent of the tablet market and sold more than 13.6 million iPads in the first calendar quarter. Samsung only sold 1.6 million tablets, giving the Korean-based technology giant just over 7 percent of the overall market share.

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Topics: Tablets, Apple, Legal, Samsung

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225 comments
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  • I've just looked on the Apple Store...

    I don't see the letters "Samsung" in silver on the iPad anywhere... :-S

    As to patenting a design with rounded corners, that was old whan I was a kid, how did Apple manage to get a patent on it?

    I really despair at the state of the US Patent system sometimes!
    wright_is
    Reply 1 Vote

    • not sometimes, but always

      let's just say it is corrupt. i wonder how much money had to change hands for this BS to become a patent?
      ForeverSPb
      Reply 2 Votes

    • Like most Apple Haters

      You only look at the whole "Apple patented the rectangle" iHater rallying cry without considering the rest of the picture - Samsung made a carbon copy of the iPad from the shape to the silver bezel to the 30 pin connector and square shaped A/C adapter to the very packaging the Tab 10.1 comes in. AND they also used the icons from Apple core apps in their presentations of the Tab 10.1.

      I despair at the state of tech religious zealots.
      NonFanboy
      Reply Vote

      • Are you daft?

        Using commodity connectors is not a patent infringement. Those connectors were not invented by Apple. If it were up to fools like you every device in the world would have it's own proprietary power and data connections pfft!
        As to the icons; they were icons of applications. Would you force all app developers to have different icons for every platform?
        I despair of corporate slaves who don't understand what real competition is.
        brainburst
        Reply 4 Votes

      • @brainburst

        So now the proprietary Apple 30 pin adapter is a "commodity connector"? Really? Dude, I think your brain has indeed burst. Look around at the various adapters - everyone but Apple is using a micro USB. Everyone. Well Apple and the one model tablet Samsung released - the Galaxy Tab 10.1 that uses the exact same proprietary 30 pin connector Apple uses.

        [b] If it were up to fools like you every device in the world would have it's own proprietary power and data connections pfft![/b]

        First you call me daft now a fool? READ my post. Do some basic research then come back and post a reply...

        [b]As to the icons; they were icons of applications. Would you force all app developers to have different icons for every platform?[/b]

        Again you misread what I wrote - Samsung used app icons that Apple used for it's core iOS apps... meaning that these icons were created by Apple not a 3rd party developer. My God man has your religious frenzy over Android blinded you?
        NonFanboy
        Reply Vote

      • lol

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDMI
        Natanael_L
        Reply Vote

      • connectors not the same....

        I have both and the connectors are not even close. I wish they were. then I could use my accessories on both...FWIW, I don't think the SGT has the look and feel of the iPad. This would be obvious to anyone who picked both up...
        tradergeorge
        Reply Vote

      • @Natanael_L

        That's NOT the Apple 30 pin connector - the wikipedia article says: Designer ANSI/CEA
        Designed February 2010

        But Apple has used the same 30 pin connector since 2007.

        Next!
        NonFanboy
        Reply Vote

      • Keep reading

        "CEA-2017-A is the new revision of the earlier ANSI/CEA-2017 standard adopted in July 2007"
        Natanael_L
        Reply Vote

      • 30 pin connector, product size, and the outcome of public squabbling.

        The PDMI is a CES standard developed by an organization in which Samsung and Apple have equal memberships.

        Proportions and size are based upon the screen size. Isn't Samsung a screen supplier for Apple?

        http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/03/20/sharp_meets_apples_standards_for_ipad_retina_display_lg_lags_behind___report.html

        Apple is wrong on this and so is the injunction ruling. Apple is letting a personal vendetta between Jobs and Schmidt dictate its actions. It's a bad business decision being subsidized by consumers of Apple's products.

        No matter the motivation or its outcome, Apple's actions are galvanizing opposition to Apple just as it causes Apple apologists to rally in defense. To not be predominantly perceived as benign is bad for Apple in the long run.
        djchandler
        Reply 3 Votes

      • Hey, ASUS too

        Edit:
        Note: The GTab does NOT use PDMI. I thought it did, but I looked it up and apparently it doesn't.

        ASUS uses that same multi-pin style connector. Really, think about it: if you want to transfer large amounts of power and data in a small connector, USB isn't always going to cut it. If you want to transfer more data, you need a bigger connector. If you want a bigger connector, you can't make it thicker because that wouldn't conform to the design of the tablet (since thinner is always better). So, you make it wider. Style concerns dicate that you make it rounded, etc, whatever need be. Its an obvious conclusion, really.

        ASUS is one of the most innovative companies around in the tablet market. So they copied Apple too?
        Walkop
        Reply 1 Vote

      • All well and fine

        My argument isn't whether Samsung copied Apple, but the fact that Apple were allowed to patent the physical design! For designs like that, there are plenty of other ways to protect them, without having to abuse the patent system.

        Sue Samsung under copyright for look and feel infringement, I have no problems with that, but rounded corners etc. should not be patentable and designs shouldn't be patentable. Plus rounded corners have been used for centuries in products, so it should come under the heading of bleedin' obvious and the patent should have been rejected.
        wright_is
        Reply 2 Votes

      • Ridiculous and counter productive

        Not only is it ridiculous to say using a common connector is a patent infringement, but there should be a LAW REQUIRING similar devices to have the same connectors! All cellphones should have the same power and computer connectors, all tablets should have the same connectors (and the same as the phones would be even better), all cameras should have the same, all laptops and so on. Having proprietary connectors is total BS and such a waste of resources. How many power cables and cords are sitting in every American (worldwide) household. Any idea how much plastic and copper and rubber etc that is. Not to mention the pain in the ass to keep them all straight of which goes to which and if you lose one of those proprietary cables you have to buy another one. They should ALL have common cables AND the devices SHOULD NOT have those cables included. Because if I have four phones, two tablets and two cameras that all use the same connectors why would I need eight sets of them and if by chance I do then I buy them.
        Stop the madness!!
        jefferyshall
        Reply 1 Vote

      • Used the same connectors !!!

        Is NonFanboy saying that every tablet manufacturer (and by implication every manufacturer of every electronic device) should use different connectors??? I despair at the number of different connectors currently in use and wish we could have global standards for more connectors. At least USB is universal (as its name implies). All power connectors should be universal too with the only variations allowed being for different voltages so that it would be impossible to plug a power supply for one gadget into another gadget which needed a different voltage. And it's about time the fuel filler openings on vehicles had different shapes for diesel and petrol so that it would be impossible to put diesel in a petrol vehicle or petrol in a diesel vehicle. Examples of technological companies coming to their senses (i.e. it CAN happen!) are Sony adopting the SD memory card (so it's bye bye Memory Stick) and Olympus and Fuji abandoning the XD card in favour of SD.
        JohnOfStony
        Reply 1 Vote

      • Use your eyes

        You have only to look at the Galaxy Tab 10.1 to see the difference. It is longer and thinner - a totally dfferent aspect ratio, so different that it's obvious to anyone.
        Apple uses something approximating the "golden rectangle" which looks nice, Samsung uses the 16:9 widescreen format which plays movies.
        Apple is just playing for time, knowing that their gains are higher than the fines or bonds imposed
        HugoM
        Reply 1 Vote

    • How indeed

      Does Apple have enough money to buy patents? Maybe somebody should start looking at the bank accounts of the US Patent office clerks that issued that patient.
      rmitche2
      Reply 1 Vote

      • Paying off patent office clerks is...

        a scurrilous charge offered with no evidence whatsoever. It libels those clerks and is, perhaps above all, indicative of a cheap mind offering cheap tactics in place of honest debate.
        godsfault
        Reply 2 Votes

    • also has nothing to do with android.

      It's not a victory over android. Samsung's touchwiz skin launcher is a blatant copy of ios. The hardware follows suit.
      LarsDennert
      Reply Vote

      • This just doesn???t make sense.

        Steve himself proclaimed once; not exact quote, "We (the Apple Co.) shamelessly copied other people???s ideas??? and don???t forget big words like ???magically??? advanced the ideas to benefit; guess who? Not customers, but The Apple shareholders, while customers get screwed. I bought couple of years ago MacBook Air for $1799.00. Not only that it had to be constantly charged, I had to be taken for repairs numerous times and now it stopped working completely. After pushing the ???ON??? button, all I heard was beep. Apple shop employee (arrogant, groomed probably by Steve; RIP) told me that only way they can deal with it would be replace the MB, $648.00. Luckily on way out, one sensible man whispered to me, ???Take it to small repair shop???. It was fixed for fraction of the cost. It is true that Apple makes shiny appliances that appeal to masses, but I figure that their bullying tactic will eventually cost them. I never wish anything bad to happen to anyone, Apple is the exception.
        Touch screens are used on countless devices since seventies; does that mean that Apple ???shamelessly??? like magic copied the idea? Technology to detect the finger touch can have only so many variations, does that mean that no one can now produce touch screen products except Apple? Imagine if all companies with ability to throw money around would sue everybody who adapts similar ideas that they have. Should Facebook for example sue any other social networking companies?
        Luckily, I do not live in USA and I can buy Samsung products in China. I am sure that Apple won???t sue Samsung here, they would be laughed out of the courtroom and Apple knows it.
        There is another thing, when do you think Steve did come up with idea of making first Apple computer?
        Hint; after touring HP Company.
        ladislaver
        Reply 1 Vote

        • US Market

          Here in most of the big asian cities I visit the common phone is most likely to be a samsung. I recently switched from Apple to Samsung and happy for that change. FWIW the look and feel are completely different and switching from iOS to Android 4.1 was much the same as switching from window to OSX (or the other way round).
          In any case I am very happy to have switched over.
          Bradish@...
          Reply Vote
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