The injunction placed last week against sales of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet was, as you would probably expect, appealed by the Korean consumer electronics giant. The pleas have fallen on deaf ears, however, and as reported by Reuters, a judge has blocked a move to lift the injunction on the tablet.
Apple last week posted a $2.6 million bond to put the injunction into place, with the famously straight-talking Judge Koh stating Samsung “does not have a right to compete unfairly, by flooding the market with infringing products.” She then went onto highlight the Korean outfit relies heavily on FRAND-pledged standard-essential patents (SEPs), so it is very unsurprising Samsung’s attempt to reverse the decision has been thrown out.
With the Tab 10.1 being a fairly old device, the sales ban is unlikely to have too much of an effect on Samsung. With newer tablets on the market, the device seemed as though it was on the way to being phased out anyway, but the embarrassment of being found to have copied a number of patents – and still not managed to make much of a dent on iPad sales – will certainly have a lasting negative effect moving forward.
As well as, of course, the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Apple was also granted a preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Nexus which, although branded Google, is manufactured by Samsung. The Nexus decision is certainly more significant in the grand scheme of things, since although there’re thought to be several new Nexus devices arriving in November (2,3,4,5,6?), the original Galaxy Nexus was just preparing itself for a bunch of new goodies with Android Jelly Bean (4.1).
The battle between Apple and Samsung (along with Google) shows little sign of slowing up, and on the topic of banned sales, I, for one, have mixed views. On one hand, I do think a sales ban is an extremity, and although warranted with the quite obviously infringing Tab 10.1, Apple’s parallel move to block the Galaxy S III seems more of a tactical battle to push away competition.
Competition which, at the moment, Apple is struggling to compete with. Competition which, this month, could shift in excess of ten million units.
Thoughts?
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