The first round of the Apple-Samsung battle was won by Apple with a German Court ordering a preliminary injunction, on the grounds of an alleged infringement of Apple’s iPad-related Community design no. 000181607-0001, against the distribution of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the European Union, except the Netherlands.
While this preliminary injunction takes immediate effect in Germany, it could be a while before it becomes effective in the other countries.
The two companies have been locked in a bitter dispute, wherein Apple claims that the Samsung’s Galaxy range of smart phone and tablet imitates the look and feel of Apple’s iPhone and iPad, right down from the design, interface and packaging to accessories.
While Samsung has denied the claims in court, it admitted to changing the design after the iPad 2 arrived and interestingly had a much thinner Galaxy Tab at the CTIA show in March that looked more like Apple’s form.
Apple applied for a preliminary injunction against the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the European Union, in the district court of Düsseldorf, Germany. The judge agreed that the 10.1 tab copies the elements of the iPad and granted the injunction for violation of intellectual rights.
IP Analyst, Florian Mueller posts in his blog Foss Patents that this preliminary injunction is all about a design-related intellectual property right and not about hardware or software patents.
Samsung faces a 250,000 euro ($350,000) fine, or even the jailing of its senior management, for any incident in which it is found violating the terms of the ban. Samsung can appeal against the injunction but will still lose at least four weeks of sales before the hearing.
Mueller also confirms in his blog that Apple has plans to file a separate lawsuit against Samsung in the Netherlands asserting the same community design.
Reacting to the injunction, Samsung said it was not given notice of Apple’s request in a German court to temporarily prevent sales of the Galaxy Tablet. Kim Titus, a spokesman for Samsung said in a statement on Wednesday, The order was issued without any hearing or presentation of evidence from Samsung.
Titus said, We will act immediately to defend our intellectual property rights through the ongoing legal proceedings in Germany and will continue to actively defend these rights throughout the world.
Bloomberg reports that Apple is also seeking a court order to block sales in the U.S. until a trial can be held on patent-infringement claims there. In Australia, Samsung has agreed not to introduce a version of its Galaxy tablet computer until an Apple lawsuit there is resolved.
However, Samsung Australia said in a statement released last week that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be released in the near future since Apple had filed a complaint against a variant that Samsung Electronics had no plans of selling in Australia, meaning the U.S. Version.
The dispute began in April when Cupertino, California-based Apple sued Samsung in the U.S., claiming that the Galaxy products imitated Apple designs and technology. Samsung, which supplies memory chips for Apple, retaliated with lawsuits in South Korea, Japan, Germany and the U.S.
This newest victory for Apple is just part of the companyâs fight against Android. Apple has accused Android of copying its smartphones and tablet and infringing on several patents it owns. Apple has also accused HTC, Samsung and Motorola of infringing on its patents with their Android devices, particularly in the tablet market.