If you haven't been keeping up, Samsung got the original ban sent to appeal, based on Apple's community design having been considered "too broad" by the judge. Which might have let Samsung sell the 10.1 in Germany alongside the Galaxy Tab 10.1N, a Germany-only derivative designed to circumvent the original ban.
Now, it seems, Apple has been in the appeals court with a whole 'nother claim which relies on a totally different issue, that of "unfair competition".
So Samsung are once again in the position of marketing only the modified Galaxy Tab 10.1N in Germany. But that's not all – Apple filed a separate suit a few days ago against even that device, in concert with other tablets like the 8.9, 7.7 and a raft of Galaxy phones. So they're obviously determined to keep this going regardless of how many knock-backs they take, in pursuit of a marketing advantage over Samsung via the various litigations they instigate.
Update: The Munich Regional Court today denied Apple's request to ban the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1N, and further, to also reject a ban on the Galaxy Nexus. The out-take from this is that the court has effectively ruled the Apple patent invalid on the basis of "prior art", something already recommended by a Dutch court in recent weeks. Apple will undoubtedly switch to other patents as it continues its "thermonuclear" patent wars globally.
Meantime, Samsung's attempts to have the iPhones banned in three European nations, the Netherlands, France and Italy, have been notable by their failure. And ominously, those very attempts appear to have jolted the EU's anti-trust authorities to investigate Samsung for violation of its FRAND obligations. Sometimes it seems like Sammy just can't catch a break.
There's much more to come so stay tuned.
Source: FossPatents
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