Apple strikes again: Sammy Galaxy Tab 10.1 sales blocked in EU

mikedragon32

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0810/breaking10.html

Irish Times wrote:

Apple has scored a major victory in its patent infringement battle against Samsung Electronics after a German court temporarily barred the Korean firm from selling its flagship Galaxy tablet in the European Union except The Netherlands.

The court order comes a week after Samsung was forced to delay the Australian unveiling of its latest Galaxy tablet because of a similar lawsuit.

Apple has said Samsung's Galaxy line of mobile phones and tablets "slavishly" copied the iPhone and iPad. It has sued in the United States, Australia and elsewhere. Samsung, whose tablets are based on Google's Android software, has countersued Apple.

Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet confirmed that a district court in the German city of Dusseldorf granted the preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1. It was not immediately clear why the order did not include The Netherlands.

Samsung's mobile unit, which includes handsets and tablet PCs, generated 30 per cent of the technology giant's revenue in the second quarter. The bulk of the rest comes from memory chips and televisions, sectors where Samsung is the global leader.

The Korean company, Asia's biggest technology company with revenue of 154.6 trillion Korean won (€98 billion) last year, said it would challenge the court decision.

"The request for an injunction was filed with no notice to Samsung, and the order was issued without any hearing or presentation of evidence from Samsung," Samsung said.

Apple's move also raises the stakes for Google, which has accused its biggest rivals of banding together to hamper its increasingly popular Android, after it lost a bid to buy thousands of patents from bankrupt Nortel .

Without patents, companies' devices are vulnerable to challenges for royalties or, worse, demands from rivals to withdraw the products from the market place.

Samsung has been locked in a battle with Apple over smartphone and tablet patents since April. The Galaxy gadgets are seen as among the biggest challengers to Apple's mobile devices, which have achieved runaway success.

Apple sold 14 million iPads in the first half of this year worldwide, compared with analysts' sales estimates of about 7.5 million units for the Galaxy Tab over 2011.

Industry executives said Samsung could launch a new variation of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 to get it on sale in Europe, as it plans to do in Australia, or settle the dispute by paying royalties to Apple.

In Australia, Samsung has agreed to show Apple an Australian version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 one week before its launch there, a Samsung spokesman said.

Apple is one participant in a web of litigation among phone makers and software firms over who owns patents used in smartphones, as rivals aggressively rush into the smartphone and tablet market.

Complicating things for the two tech giants is the pair's $5 billion (€3.4 billion)-plus commercial relationship, which some analysts think might be at risk. Samsung, for instance, counts Apple as its biggest customer, making chips and other parts central to Apple's mobile devices.

The well-reviewed Galaxy Tab 10.1 only recently came onto the market in Europe and is in the early stages of being rolled out. For now, the iPad is the market leader. Samsung released its latest tablet in the United States in June.

Competing products including Research In Motion's PlayBook and Motorola's Xoom have received lukewarm reviews, while Hewlett Packard's TouchPad is a late entrant in the market, which already has more than 100 devices, mostly running on Android.

A US trade agency is also set to review Apple patent-infringement complaint against Taiwanese phone market HTC.

Ah, to be a Patent Lawyer!

Given the nature of these products how does one stop them looking alike or even having similar interfaces? Sometimes things just look alike, it's the nature of the product.

Could you imagine Sony suing Samsung or Panasonic for coming up with a rectangular screen with no visible frame on which you could view images transmitted to it?

(yes, I know Sony didn't invent the flat screen, or did they? But I'm sure you get my point...)

JJJJNR

Best excuse ever to go to Amsterdam.

Atomic Pineapple

I wouldn't mind but Apple themselves have ripped everything they do off someone else and then claim it to be revolutionary or an in-genius way of doing things that only they could have come up with when it turns out it was done 20 years ago!

Nevermind_

Its getting interesting though this battle between Samsung and Apple considering how much of the Apple hardware, chips etc are manufactured by Samsung.
Apple just looking for a nice discount on their next shipments of chips?

x in the city

apple have brain washed far to many people out there, they dont want people buying stuff from samsung...clearly superior stuff it has to be said.

bd250110

x in the city wrote: »

apple have brain washed far to many people out there, they dont want people buying stuff from samsung...clearly superior stuff it has to be said.

That is opinion, surely?

If [Company X] feels their portfolio of patents has been infringed by a compeditor, it is perfectly normal business practice to seek an injunction against that product, or work out a licensing agrement. That is the whole point of a patent. It's going to be interesting to see how this works out.

elderlemon

Except that its not a "patent" but a design that they are claiming that Samsung infringed - their "design patent" basically prevents any other manufacturer from creating another product that is flat, or curved on one side, has four equally rounded corners, has a flat screen and wait for it, has coloured icons that display when the unit is switched on. Check out the design document if you don't believe me.

Bascially that covers every tablet, every phone and probably every TV on the planet.

bd250110 wrote: »

That is opinion, surely?

If [Company X] feels their portfolio of patents has been infringed by a compeditor, it is perfectly normal business practice to seek an injunction against that product, or work out a licensing agrement. That is the whole point of a patent. It's going to be interesting to see how this works out.

jay93

Apple are total twats!

LuckyCharms

Just wanted to clear up a few misconceptions running round the place.

You cant really argue that Samsung devices are better that Apples since Apple use Samsung alot for their hardware.

Apple are currently moving away from Samsung for some of their production, recently the ARM chip used in Ipad and Iphone.

This is the future of the tech wars im afraid . These patent wars will only grow. The reason behind companies banding with Apple to fight Google is because Google won't win . Apple has over 70b in reserves for these types of patent wars so better be on the right side of em than the wrong.

It marks a significant change in the times to watch Microsoft playing second fiddle to the big players in the market, kinda feel sorry for them:pac::pac:

AlmightyCushion

LuckyCharms wrote: »

Just wanted to clear up a few misconceptions running round the place.

You cant really argue that Samsung devices are better that Apples since Apple use Samsung alot for their hardware.

Apple are currently moving away from Samsung for some of their production, recently the ARM chip used in Ipad and Iphone.

This is the future of the tech wars im afraid . These patent wars will only grow. The reason behind companies banding with Apple to fight Google is because Google won't win . Apple has over 70b in reserves for these types of patent wars so better be on the right side of em than the wrong.

It marks a significant change in the times to watch Microsoft playing second fiddle to the big players in the market, kinda feel sorry for them:pac::pac:

I think it's you who has some misconceptions here. A samsung and apple device while similar, have various differences. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses which will determine which is the better product to the person buying it. For example, if thinness and weight are an important factor to someone buying a tablet, they may see the galaxy tab as being better because it's a little bit thinner and lighter (I doubt anyone would notice small difference in size and weight though but anyways). Also, I prefer android to ios so in my opinion the galaxy tab is the better product, a friend of mine prefers ios so to him the ipad is the better tablet.

As far as I know, both the a5 chip (used in the ipad 2) and the a4 chip (used in the iphone 4 and ipod touch) are manufactured by samsung.

I don't know where you see companies banding with apple, have you got a link, I'd be interested to read it. If you're talking about the recent novell patent sale, then according to Microsoft, google were given the option to join them when buying the patent portfolio but refused.

Microsoft are also involved in this current patent war too, they're just going about it differently to apple. Apple are stopping sales, microsoft are going after royalties. Microsoft have gotten a number of companies (HTC being one and samung possibly being another although they may have told microsoft to go jump and are fighting it in court, I could be mistaken) to pay them royalties for every android phone they sell.

I haven't used or seen the galaxy tab much but if it's as similar to the iPad 2 like the galaxy s was to the iphone 3gs then Samsung could be in trouble. It's ridiculous how much they copied the iphone 3gs with the galaxy s.

LuckyCharms

Personal preference on products is one thing, i was thinking more along the lines of the hardware used on the products which make one inherently better than the other.Stating that something is superior as an opinion is one thing, as a fact is entirely different so i guess it comes down to interpretation.

Regarding the chip , Apple are considering moving from samsung with the A6 chip for the next iteration of the iphone n ipad. Al ot about them reportedly trialing these with TMSC . Not surprising considering the current dependency between Samsung and Apple n their legal issues.

Microsoft did make an offer to Google but it was skewed heavily in favor of them and didn't afford Google the protection that they were looking for from the patents so it made no sense.

There has been a lot coming out over this patent fight with some mudslinging from both sides.

Google 'Organized Campaign Against Android'

subway

they are still for sale in at least one major dublin retailer.

Ste-

They'll be after digital photo frame makers next!

Scotty #

Google bought Motorola's mobile phone division today for $12B. People in the business believe it's actually Motorola's many patents that Google are really after. This patent war is really going to heat up over the next few months.

I don't think Apple expect to stop SAMSUNG indefinitely but when you are selling millions and millions of iPhones and iPods a month, even if you hold them off for a few weeks it makes a huge financial difference.

Apple have also copywritten just about every word in the English language with i in front of it... itube, ipipe, izone, ifield, ifire, icar, and so on.

lord lucan

Found this very revealing: http://www.androidcentral.com/did-apple-tamper-evidence-german-apple-v-samsung-case#comments

amdaley28

Looks like Apple found a friendly judge .
I wouldn't take a lot of notice of this case.It goes on all the time.All companies have banks of lawyers looking for reasons to try & stop the opposition. Apple are running scared.There are products out now which are not only equal but in a lot of cases are better than Apples own products.Their grip on the market is slipping.For instance the Samsung Galaxy s 11 is better than Apples current offering. They're flying out the door & Samsung can't make enough of them.This is not just my opinion. I have met four people in the past two weeks alone who have gone to the Galaxy & three of them were Iphone users.Now don't get me wrong,Samsung aren't perfect far from it but people are no longer willing to use products with one hand tied behind their backs by crippled software. Android is the main reason for the shift.Its no longer Apple or nothing.There are viable alternatives out there & Apple are bricking it :mad:

smartblaa

I've already posted this elsewhere, but feck it..

It appears that injunction is lifted for EU except Germany.

Looks like Apple got their injunction from doctored pictures.

racer1

I think this may have backfired on apple. All the free press Samsung are getting may boost sales of their tab....

nesf

It was an import block not a sales block. Samsung can't export any Galaxy Tabs to the EU but any Tabs already stocked by retailers can be sold.

robinph

...and the block has been lifted after the German judge realised he may not have actually had the power for an EU wide block:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/16/samsung_tab/

amdaley28

robinph wrote: »

...and the block has been lifted after the German judge realised he may not have actually had the power for an EU wide block:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/16/samsung_tab/

To be honest the man in the street could have told that judge that he hadn't the power for an all over EU ban I'd hate to appear before him for speeding, "Death by firing squad" :eek:
Samsung must be delighted with all the free advertising.

Resi12

Apple are a sad, sad lot. They see Samsung as their main competitor and are being completely childish, I hope this blows up in their face.

donspeekinglesh

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

microsoft are going after royalties.

Indeed, I've seen suggestion that they're earning more from Android than Windows Phone...

AlmightyCushion

donspeekinglesh wrote: »

Indeed, I've seen suggestion that they're earning more from Android than Windows Phone...

I heard that too and it sounds about right. They get about $15 a phone from HTC alone so that has to bringing in quite a bit of money.