Earlier this month Apple was denied an injunction against the Galaxy S III handset from Samsung but that setback has not stopped the company’s legal action. Apple was granted a preliminary injunction against the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the the US, on the grounds that Samsung’s tablet infringes on Apple’s tech.
Judge Lucy Koh yesterday said in her ruling, “Although Samsung has a right to compete, it does not have a right to compete unfairly by flooding the market with infringing products. 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.”
Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet, speaking to AllThingsD, said, “It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging. 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.”
Samsung replied in a statement, saying, “Apple sought a preliminary injunction of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1, based on a single design patent that addressed just one aspect of the product’s overall design. Should Apple continue to make legal claims based on such a generic design patent, design innovation and progress in the industry could be restricted.”
Since this is a preliminary injunction, Samsung will definitely appeal the decision. Sales of the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1″ will not be halted as a result of the decision, however it plays out, and Apple will be required to post a $2.6 million bond in case it later emerges that the injunction should not have been granted. This will need to be done before the order takes effect.
Source: AllThingsD