Apple, Inc. has in recent months filed so many lawsuits against so many different companies in so many different countries that it is really difficult to keep count. The company is currently embroiled in legal battles with companies like HTC, Motorola and is particular against Samsung Electronics.
The whole Apple vs. Samsung shebang started back in April 2011 when the former filed a lawsuit in US against the latter for “slavishly” copying the iPhone and iPad with their Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab series of phones and tablets respectively. Samsung later counter-sued Apple, Apple then took the lawsuit to courts in different countries like Australia, Germany.
Now, more than a year after the original filing against the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Apple has won the lawsuit. Details after the jump!
The news comes from The Verge in the form of a blog post where they discuss some of the details of US District Court Judge Lucy Koh’s decision regarding Apple vs. Samsung lawsuit.
Koh has ruled for a tentative ban on the Galaxy Tab 10.1. It will have to be taken off shelves unless and until Samsung can disprove Apple’s design patent on tablets/iPad. To compensate for potential losses faced by Samsung during this period, Apple has agreed to pay $2.6 million to the Korean if they can convince the court that Apple’s patent is invalid.
Samsung, of course, has already appealed to the Court of Appeals so you should expect more news regarding this case.
Samsung isn’t really going to face any significant losses with the Galaxy Tab 10.1 as it is already succeeded by the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 and a bunch of other tablets which have designs that cannot be mistaken for an iPad.
This is the first “win” Apple has seen in a long time with their lawsuits against Samsung. Other than Germany where the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is permanently banned (but the subtly different-looking 10.1N lives on) and a temporary ban in EU and Australia, Apple hasn’t been able to outright block Samsung from selling their products.
In the aftermath of the design-based lawsuits, Samsung has done some significant work in creating distinctly designed products. The best example of this is the recently released Galaxy S III (whose overall design, some say, was driven by lawyers).
If you’re interested, you can read the 8-page long detailed document from Koh regarding her ruling here.
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