Apple has been without relent in its pursuit of Google and Samsung, claiming patent infringements on a grand scale. Judge Lucy Koh last week dished out a ban on Galaxy Nexus sales to the Big G, and the web company duly obliged, removing the device from its Play Store. Earlier this week, the device returned, packing in Android Jelly Bean 4.1, a move which is said to amend any issues with regards to the claims Apple made in court, but having followed this Apple vs. Anybody debacle for quite a great deal of time, it should be of no surprise that the Cupertino company has not quite finished yet.
With the Galaxy Tab 10.1 now in obscurity (at least in the United States), and the Jelly-Beaned Galaxy Nexus not shipping for a couple of weeks, Apple has certainly disrupted sales of Android products in one way or another, and FOSS Patents has stumbled upon documents which show just how forthright the iPhone maker has been in going after retailers of the objectionable devices, too.
Of course, Apple is right to challenge a device it deems to be plagiarizing its intellectual property in any way, but with its grip on the smartphone market having been lost to Samsung since the iPhone 4S released back in October, the tactic of pushing for sales bans is beginning to look a little bit, well, desperate.
According to Samsung, retailers felt the wrath of Tim Cook’s irate assembly of lawyers in the form of letters, which are fairly aggressive in tone. Several retailers received the letters during the course of June and early July, (before the injunction became an out-and-out ban), and stated the injunction was applicable “not only to the named Samsung entities, but also to anyone ‘acting in concert’ with them. Apple thus believes that the order extends to you.”
From that quote alone, it’s clear none of Apple’s dogmatic courtroom crew went to Charm School, and the letters went on to insist the retailers complied with the order immediately by refraining from “importing, offering to sell, or selling within the United States . . the Galaxy Tab 10.1 . . or any product that is no more than colorably different from it.”
Samsung has made a bit of a tired habit of painting Apple as the sole instigator in proceedings, and duly described the letters to be “menacing”, but on this occasion, I am inclined to agree. The clincher has to be part where Apple insists retailers don’t sell any product “no more than colorably different” to the Galaxy Tab 10.1, which seems an astonishing show of arrogance and self-righteousness, in my opinion.
The ageing Tab is still available to buy online, although the fact is, nobody particularly wants it (anymore), and unless the courts evaluate the situation and stipulate to retailers that they cannot sell off their remaining stock, Apple really has no business ordering them about.
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