Apple's suit against Galaxy Tab bombs in UK

Following the recent loss gainst HTC, a UK court has thrown out Apple’s claim that its iPad design was illegally copied by Galaxy Tab maker, Samsung. The judge found that the design of Samsung’s three Tab devices doesn’t infringe Apple’s “registered” design, and ruled that consumers are unlikely to confuse them with the iPad.

Following the judgement, Samsung released a statement slamming Apple for its anticompetitive tactics, claiming… “Should Apple continue to make excessive legal claims in other countries based on such generic designs, innovation in the industry could be harmed and consumer choice unduly limited”.

Brit court rules Apple patents invalid – HTC wins

In handing down a massive defeat to Apple in a watershed patent tussle, British Judge Christopher Floyd ruled that HTC’s devices don’t infringe the four patents charged by the Cupertino-based iDevice vendor. The judge found in fact that three of the four patents are actually invalid. This is a huge blow to Apple, which had seen some temporary judgments go its way in other jurisdictions on its patent claims.

Besides the ludicrous “slide to unlock” farce, today’s verdict also affected Apple’s patents for scrolling through images, character set selection, and multi-touch capability. These patents were arguably Apple’s most potentially-damaging weapons in the global IP wars the company started with Android, and by invalidating them, the British court has effectively gutted the iPhone maker’s campaign to litigate its competitors out of the UK market.

iOS demand pips UK Android sales in October

As anybody paying attention could (and did) predict, Apple's latest iGadget has helped iOS to take top honours in the smartphone segment in the UK. Reported by obscure market tracker, the intriguingly-named Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, iOS totted up 42.8% market share for the week ending october 30, while the UK's Android sales for that week managed a relatively lacklustre 35%.

So, as expected, the much-speculated mega-hit generated by the iP4S's pent-up demand arrived in the UK at least, and for a week the Cupertino phone maker got to bask in some good market share news for a change. The fly in the ointment is that across the quarter ending on that same October 30, Android devices still sold to the smartphone-buying Brits faster than than iOS iDevices did - Android scoring 46% to Apple's 27.8%.

But the iPhone maker will be sighing with relief at the cessation, however temporary, of its continually poor showing versus Google's efforts.

Note also that this result is for the UK only, and covered the week of the iPhone 4S's launch. It also occurred in a climate where Apple has finally made its phones available to any carrier that can afford the meaty subsidy the company demands for the priviledge of becoming an iPhone reseller, and the new gizmo is a world phone which means it's able to run on any network on the good Earth.

Still, expect the news to be trumpeted from the rooftops in Cupertino for the next 30 days.

Graphic courtesy of Kantar Worldpanel ComTech - note the comparitive growth figures...