Apple secures EU ban on Galaxy Tab 7.7
Apple's legal team may be doing a happy dance today, after a German court issued an injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 tablet. The injunction will ban sales of the small tablet in the entire European Union; it was already off the shelves in Germany.
The court found that the design of the Galaxy Tab 7.7 infringed on Apple designs from 2004. The court also rejected Samsung's argument that the ban should only apply to Germany and issued the ban across the EU instead.
There was a bit of good news for Samsung; the court did not ban sales of the re-designed Galaxy Tab 10.1N in Germany. Samsung had fired back at the ban of the original Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany by redesigning the case of the tablet slightly. The company released a statement saying "Samsung welcomes the court's ruling which confirms our position that the GALAXY Tab 10.1N does not infringe Apple's intellectual property and does not infringe laws against unfair competition. Should Apple continue to make legal claims based on such a generic design patent, design innovation and progress in the industry could be restricted."
The Galaxy Tab 7.7 ruling seems to contradict a recent Samsung win in the UK, where a court ruled that Samsung's tablet designs did not infringe on Apple's patent. Stay tuned for all of the courtroom shenanigans here on TUAW.
[via The Next Web]
