Samsung Tablet Ban Extended, IFA Hopes Crushed
As reported yesterday, Samsung was defeated by Apple in a Dutch court when the court approved the injunction filed against them for their smartphones. But they had high hopes for their German court appearance today, as they planned to use Stanley Kubrik’s film to appeal their case.
Unfortunately, today didn’t go the way Samsung hoped, as their tablet ban has been extended until September 9 as said by Presiding Judge Johanna Brueckner-Hofmann in today’s preliminary hearing.
“In the court’s view, Apple has a case to keep” the German ban, Brueckner-Hofmann said at the hearing today. “There are a lot of alternative ways to design a tablet device, as the market amply shows. We think Apple’s EU design rights grant a medium range of protection, if not a broad one.”
The evidence submitted by Samsung in an effort to prove Apple tampered with the photos of the Galaxy Tab to make it look more like the iPad was dismissed, as there have been other tablets before the iPad that had buttons and such, and that the Galaxy Tab was the closest resemblance to the Apple tablet.
Also, Samsung’s appeal to use Kubrik’s movie to fend off Apple’s lawsuit fell on deaf ears as the judge stated that the “tablet” in the film is not comparable to the iPad.
And to make matters worse, because of the ban extension, Samsung will not be able to show-off the Galaxy Tab in the IFA consumer electronic trade show in Berlin that will run from September 2-7.
The only shot that Samsung has of overturning the rule is to convince Judge Brueckner-Hofmann that Apple had previous knowledge, as early as June, of Samsung’s European launch.
According to Florian Müller, an intellectual-property consultant in Starnberg, Germany points out on his blog, FOSS Patents, “Apple’s preliminary injunction was granted after Apple argued there was a sense of urgency surrounding this particular infringement. If Samsung can prove that Apple knew of the competing tablet in June, then the judge could strike down the injunction for lack of urgency.”
If you’re wondering why Apple is breathing so hard on the back of Samsung’s neck, you probably haven’t noticed that Samsung products have been taking a bit from Apple’s sales. Apple is acknowledging the fact that they’re keeping a close eye on Samsung.
With that, we’d have to wait a couple more weeks to find out if Samsung could win this one. At least there’s still something we can look forward to. In just a few days, Samsung is about to launch their Galaxy SII in the US.
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