Samsung gets court date to address Euro tablet ban

By Derek Mead August 15, 2011

samsung-galaxy-tab-10-1

Samsung, having previously been banned from selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in much of Europe, will have its day in court. On August 25 in Düsseldorf, the tech giant will get to argue for its side following an unprecedented set of injuctions from Apple.

Apple recently filed injuctions in Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and the U.S., claiming Samsung “slavishly” copied Apple’s iPads and iPhones with its Galaxy lineup of tablets and smartphones.

Apple received a preliminary injuction that bans Samsung from importing, advertising or selling the Galaxy Tab across the majority of the European Union. Stock that vendors have on hand can still be sold as third parties are not covered by the ban, but once they run out, only successful overturning of the litigation will allow Samsung to bring more of the tablets in.

Apple’s fight for an injuction continues in the Netherlands, where the action is broader than that sought in other nations. In Dutch courts, Apple is arguing that Samsung went beyond copying its designs and actually infringed on a number of specific patents. The lawsuit is of special concern for Samsung because the company’s distribution center for Europe is located in the Netherlands and it ships just about everything for Europe into Rotterdam’s ports. If Apple wins an injuction, it would go into effect on October 13, which would help eliminate some competition right around the iPhone 5’s launch.

According to The Register, Apple’s injuction is “based on some very generic line drawings, and in court Samsung complained Apple’s model registrations are way too general.” Samsung argues that there are numerous flat, rectangular electronic devices with curved corners, including one of Samsung’s own digital photo frames that came out way before the iPad. Apple’s attorneys have retorted with market research that showed 80 percent of consumers thought the iPad and Galaxy Tab are “identical” or “similar.”

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