A German court has upheld its decision to block sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the country over alleged design infringement of Apple’s iPad.
The decision refers back to an earlier temporary injunction banning sales across Europe after Apple complained Samsung had “slavishly” copied its tablet computer. The European ban was later dropped, but the decision to continue the ban in Germany is a blow to Samsung.
The company is also facing legal battles with Apple in Holland and Japan as the iPad maker looks to protect its position as the top dog in tablets and the ruling, reported in Spiegel, puts Samsung on the back foot.
However, Samsung still has legal options and could take the case further in a bid to overturn the decision quickly, according to patent law experts, and although the injunction still stands it could be overturned when the case works its way through the legal process.
“Samsung may try to appeal this to the Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court in another fast-track proceeding there. That could be a way to get the preliminary injunction lifted within a couple of months,” said Florian Mueller on the Foss Patents blog.
“The preliminary injunction stays in force until it is either overturned by the Higher Regional Court in a fast-track appeals proceeding or by the (lower) Regional Court at the end of the full-blown main proceeding, which would probably take about a year.”
If after a year Samsung was found not to have copied the iPad, Samsung could be able to claim damages, Mueller said.
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