The Australian Federal Court today reversed Justice Annabelle Bennett's decision to block sales of Samsung's flagship Android-powered tablet. While the court decision has gone Samsung's way, Apple has, as expected, requested leave to appeal the decision. Invoking something called a "stay of orders", the court has decided to retain the original injunction until Apple presents its appeal on Friday afternoon.
The reversed decision announced today effectively found errors in fact or in law that Justice Bennett made during the original case, and will mean that Samsung will be able to sell the Tab 10.1 in spite of Apple's attempt to prevent it. Had the injunction not been overturned, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 would have been dead in the water, missing the Christmas shopping season and its best opportunity to garner sales prior to being replaced in the new year by its successor.
Although Apple still has leave to appeal the overturning of the original injunction, their chances of success are significantly less than they were prior to this most recent decision. Assuming Apple's appeal fails, it's still unclear if Samsung can really profit from the situation. Demand for the device has been underwhelming world wide and it's quite possible that the Korean company will need a "fire sale" programme to sell the numbers it needs to empty the channel of inventory.
However the court battle plays out on Friday, the chances of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 being a smash hit for the company seem remote. At face value, Apple's newest marketing tactic, suing the competition out of the market, is showing great promise for the Cupertino tech goliath, but Apple is still faced with paying Samsung a large sum in compensation for the failed suit. Given their multi-billion dollar war chest though, they'll think it worth the investment.
Samsung released a statement saying... "Samsung Electronics Australia is pleased with today’s unanimous
decision by the Federal Court to lift the preliminary injunction on
sales of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. We believe the ruling clearly
affirms that Apple’s legal claims lack merit. We will make an announcement regarding the market availability of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia shortly."
Source: Gizmodo Australia
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