A German court has for the whole of the EU a sales ban pronounced for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, because to many would seem on the Apple iPad. What is the ruling for the sale is going to mean, however, is still highly uncertain.
The judge of the higher Regional court in Düsseldorf is not more substantively about the case to have bent, but only the earlier sales ban to be applicable for the parent company of Samsung Germany, the prohibition extends over the whole of the European Union. That is from the press release of the court; the judgment is not publicly available.
The judge based his ruling on the Galaxy Tab 7.7 on a ‘designpatent’ from 2004 of Apple. Therein, Apple has the design of a tablet with a glass plate over the screen and the border around the screen. Judges differences of opinion or other tablets infringe; a Dutch and a British judge to believe that 2004 is already similar tablets were published and the design so not had laid down. The court in Düsseldorf in the telecom industry, however, is known as a judge who is easy to go along with demands of complainants for a sales ban; hence a lot of business in that court to be dealt with.
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 N, a modified design compared to the original Galaxy Tab 10.1 may be sold. Because the Galaxy Tab 2, the new generation of Samsung tablets, on which design is based, which is probably also not prohibited.
The consequences of the ruling of the German court are unclear. A British judge ruled just recently that the Galaxy Tab 7.7 does not infringe on the ‘designpatent’ of Apple. In addition, there is still a case in the Netherlands, allowing the ban in the Netherlands may not be true. Samsung could opposite Tweakers.net not disclose a sales ban in the Netherlands.
The German court has only a provisional spoken; the case must be so thoroughly treated before final is judged whether the Samsung tablets too much on the iPad seem.
The case is one of the many lawsuits between Apple and Samsung. The legal battle started in april of last year and reaches now more than twenty countries worldwide. Negotiations on a settlement were earlier this year. Despite the legal battle, both companies are still business; Samsung supplies screens, memory and processors for Apple hardware.
