Patent wars have never drowned and the blame game seems to be never ending. Recently, Samsung might have felt relieved that a court decision in Sydney, Australia finally gave Samsung the ‘go ahead’ to sell their Galaxy Tab in Australia. However, it seems Samsung’s happiness was short-lived as today, a High Court decision in Australia extended a ban on selling Samsung’s Galaxy 10.1 tablet for at least another week. The decisions seem to be confusing the masses as not even a week ago a lower court had allowed the device to compete in stores with Apple’s iPad, that a stay order is ordered.
In the tech world, this seems to be one of the biggest battles between two tech giants as Samsung and Apple have been involved in a number of patent tussles going on around the world, and not just in Australia’. The battle, more importantly is for supremacy to dominate the US$100 billion market for tablet computers and smartphones.
One cannot dig into the history of this battle as there have been a number of twists and turns, and still it promises to have a number of decisions, which will change the face of the future for these two companies.
Noting the facts of this recent ban, it was surprising that the stay was imposed immediately as Apple requested the High Court to prolong the injunction. Apple, getting this ban imposed, will have to come up with strong evidence that Samsung’s device is a rip off of the iPad. the same will have to be detailed, when a full hearing will take place, expected to come in soon. Apple claimed that the Galaxy Tab 10.1, infringes 13 of its patents. Notably, Galaxy Tab 10.1 has not been sold in Australia till now.
Briefing about the update, a spokeswoman for the High Court said Justice Dyson Heydon had expedited the matter into the special leave list in Sydney set for next Friday. She even quoted, “He also extended the stay — which prevents Samsung from selling its Galaxy tablet — until the determination of the application for special leave to appeal.”For the South Korean electronics giant, it will be only sad as they had previously said, that any extension of the ban “simply serves to prolong the injustice suffered by Samsung”. They released the said statement via their Australian lawyer.
It seems Apple’s intention till now has been only trying to delay the sale of the Galaxy which can effectively “kill off” the device. Reason here being that Apple’s closest competitor in the world of smartphones and tablets is Samsung, who even rules the stats, when Android-powered devices are percentized.
Apple’s initial claim was that Samsung has infringed two of Apple’s patents, which related to touchscreen technology.
Samsung even has its claims, which note that Apple has infringed Samsung’s three patents. However, the case would be further detailed in March next year. Apple might make a number of changes till then, which will again have Samsung on the receiving end.