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Samsung Galaxy tablet ban lifted in most of Europe
An employee of South Korean mobile carrier KT holds a Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet (R) and Apple Inc's iPad tablet as he poses for photos at a registration desk at KT's headquarters in Seoul August 10, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Jo Yong-Hak
LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) - Samsung can sell its latest iPad rival in most of Europe again after a German court lifted most of an injunction it had imposed at Apple's request.
The Duesseldorf regional court said it was questionable whether its authority extended to international companies operating outside Germany, so it restricted a preliminary ban imposed last week on Samsung Electronics to Germany.
Samsung's Galaxy Tab line of tablet computers is considered the most credible alternative to Apple's iPad, which has taken the market by storm, selling about 30 million since its launch a year and a half ago.
Apple and others have moved aggressively to defend their intellectual property in maturing markets, especially against Google's Android software platform, on which the new Samsung Galaxy 10.1 tablet is built.
Android, a latecomer to the mobile market, has become a target by rapidly turning into the world's most popular smartphone platform. Google is relatively defenseless because it owns few wireless patents, in contrast to older rivals.
On Monday, Google agreed to buy Motorola Mobility, the descendant company of cellular phone pioneer Motorola, for $12.5 billion, largely for its vast patent library.
The Duesseldorf court said its ban still applied to Germany, and also to the German unit of Samsung, Samsung GmbH, throughout the European Union. A hearing in the case was due next week.
Samsung said in a statement: "We look forward to the opportunity to reassert our intellectual property rights at the hearing scheduled on August 25."
(Reporting by Nicola Leske and Miyoung Kim)
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Very Interesting point, I’d agree. However, the European Courts didn’t seem to have a problem fining the American Company “Microsoft” billions of Euros in anticompetitive fines. This court is not making a decision on directing foreign companies, they are merely determining what they can legally do on their soil.
This case is an actual court case which was taken up in Germany alone and extended to include all EU contries. The judge questioned the courts authority to preside over the other EU countries that were also included in the injunction. Not specifically over a foreign company.
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