APPLE’S iPAD may be comfortably outselling its rivals but the Californian company is taking no chances and has secured a court order to prevent the sale of the Samsung Galaxy tablet in Europe.
The Korean firm has been banned from selling the recently launched Galaxy Tab 10.1 in all European Union countries with the exception of the Netherlands.
An Apple spokeswoman said a court in Germany had granted the preliminary injunction. Apple accused Samsung of “slavishly” copying the iPhone and iPad with its Galaxy range of mobile phones and tablet computers.
“Samsung is disappointed with the court’s decision,” the company said in a statement released to The Irish Times. “We intend to 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.”
Samsung said the court ruling “in no way influences other legal proceedings filed with the courts in Europe and elsewhere”. It is counter-suing Apple.
Apple has dominated the market for portable touchscreen computers since it launched the iPad in April 2010.
Market research firm IDC said Apple had 66 per cent of the worldwide tablet market in the first three months of this year, but this will drop to about 58 per cent by the end of the year. Apple faces competition not just from Samsung but Motorola, BlackBerry-maker RIM, and HP, all of which released tablet devices for the consumer or business markets.
The injunction does not prevent the sale of any stock of Samsung’s devices that are currently in shops. The company said it did not expect the temporary injunction would affect supply. Apple won a similar lawsuit in Australia last week which will delay the launch of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in that country.
The iPhone maker also made a patent infringement claim against smartphone maker HTC to US trade authorities.
Although Apple’s action was against Samsung, it is also a blow to Google. The internet giant’s Android software is used to run the majority of devices that compete with the iPad. Apple did not invent the concept of tablet computers but the iPad was the first to achieve mainstream adoption.
