In the Federal Court this morning, Justice Bennett granted Apple an interim injunction against Samsung. The effect of this injunction is that Samsung is prevented from selling (by whatever means) the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia until the matter is finally decided. Any attempts to sell the device would likely be brought up as a contempt of court matter, which would almost certainly result in hefty penalties for Samsung.
The judge’s reasoning for granting the injunction hasn’t yet been released – this will probably come Friday with the issue of the orders – however Justice Bennett was quoted as saying that in the circumstances, the granting of the injunction sought by Apple was “appropriate”.
The two patents at the heart of this issue are over detailed design of the touchscreens and their ability to enable vertical scrolling even when a person touching the screen doesn’t move their finger in a precise vertical pattern. Without knowing the technical details myself, I can’t say how critical the former of these two patents is, but one would think that the latter might be more open to opposition or to change algorithms enough that the Galaxy Tab can continue. That said, I’m no patent attorney, and Apple has been pretty successful in enforcing its patents elsewhere.
We are waiting for more news on the outcome of the hearing, but in by far the biggest news, the interim injunction was granted. It is unclear how this will affect the sales of the tablet by 3rd party retailers, such as Mobicity or Millenius, however as we know, a lot of 3rd party retailers have already ceased sales of the device having received (what I suspect to be) some quiet words from Apple.
Once we have more, we’ll update you of course.
shouldn’t be allowed to patent Algorithms, being a Dev it sounds ridiculous to me … I can understand hardware patents
Such a shame. I’m typing this on a Tab 10.1 as we speak. It’s a fantastic piece of technology and deserved to have it’s chance in the market. I’d encourage anyone who was considering buying one to look at importing one. It really is worth it.
R.I.P iPad Galaxy 10.1
AFAIK Millenius have already stopped selling it in Aus. You literally can not buy it from the mainland anymore.
I’m going to troll Apple fanboys extra hard now
I am really, really dissapointed in this. Just another reason to why I hate apple so much.
Bottom line is – apple will get it’s karma.
Also the old saying “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”
Well the (sh)i(t)Phone 4s didn’t fall far.
I wonder how the australians are feeling about all this. I bet that this stupid judge is an apple fan.
This whole situation is so ludicrous its beyond words! Imagine if the same degree of patent protection was applied to something like the automobile industry. One company patents round tires so everyone else has to make octagonal shaped tires or a company patents the steering wheel so no other manufacturers can put steering wheels in cars.
Just because a Honda might look pretty similar to a BMW for instance certainly doesn’t mean they are the same and people who find out for themselves come to their own conclusion about what make and model of car they choose to purchase.
Obviously Apple being the anti-competitive, control-freaks that they are could never even entertain the idea of “competition” therefore the only means left at their disposal is litigation, siting ridicilous “patent” breaches (ie: rounded corners, icons in a row, the type of box the device comes in). What they really fear is a competitor showing up their overpriced wares as being the underclocked, relatively featureless, inferior devices that they really are.
I have no need for a tablet device but I might just source one of these Galaxy Tabs from OS to see what the fuss is about.
sad day, when companies use lawyers to compete. I hope kindle fire beats the crap out of Ipad
The Kindle is already being sued by patent trolls, when will this stop….
You don’t need to know the “technical details”. Software patents are always very simple and broad. That’s why they stifle innovation so much.
“A method by which a computing device with a display and touch interface blah blah blah really long-winded description” == scrolling content by touching the screen and dragging. Woopee fucking do.
Don’t fall for this software patent crap. It’s hindering competitors, nothing more.
I’m okay with this.
It forces Samsung to innovate in new ways to outdo Apple in both manufacturing/design as well as patents. Surely a win for consumers in the long-run.
Is it really a long term win for consumers, Buzz? Factoring in this item here on Ausdroid from October 9th, I don’t think so. Samsung Australia will kill the Galaxy Tab 10.1 if an agreement can’t be met within 2 weeks http://ausdroid.net/2011/10/09/samsung-australia-will-kill-the-galaxy-tab-10-1-if-an-agreement-cant-be-met-within-2-weeks/ With what (cr)apple has succeeded with today, and this item, Samsung loses any chance they had in the tablet arena. By the time they can get anything to market that passes the (cr)apple iLitigate offensive, they’ll be just another also ran in the tablet arena. Is there any tablet pending by the other Android device manufacturers that could equal… Read more »
Plus it sets a precedent for any future apple software troll court cases.
There is no good outcome to this.
I think the thing that Samsung has to be worried about that are less concerning to other carriers is just how superficially similar the iPhone is to the Galaxy S 2, and the iPad to the Galaxy Tab. You can’t tell me that Samsung’s design wasn’t inspired by iDevices. Granted, the patent dispute has zilch to do with physical resemblance, but you have to be kidding yourself if you don’t think this is part of the motivation behind Apple’s lawsuit. Otherwise, why not go after Moto for the Xoom, or the other Honeycomb manufacturers? Another big aspect, of course, is… Read more »
In the post-Jobs era, Apple will lose momentum to become another Microsoft. Litigation will outpace innovation. This court outcome simply reflects the early stages of this movement. It is more likely that Apple will seek a licensing agreement, but in the meantime a competitor is stifled. Unsurprising, but still disappointing. Having tried the Xoom, the Iconia, the Thrive and the Ipad, I imported a 10.1, and after 2 weeks with the device suggest it is a worthy foe. Nevertheless, most people will buy their I-things for Christmas. About the only positive I can see is that we fortunate few will… Read more »
Couldn’t be that apples biggest competitor is samsung?. It did say as much in the court papers they fear them.
Buzz,
As Jake said this case could be applied to other tablets and phones (Apple injunction against the Samsung Galaxy S2 in Netherlands is a good example) on the market. Apple can in theory go after Samsung phones here as well using this injunction as a precedent. So it’s not about Samsung innovating, it just the other manufacturers of smartphones and tablets have good reasons to be worried about this ruling.
Hmm. Have to say that apple aren’t really being too nice about all this, and I find their actions pretty annoying. At the same time, Samsung do make a lot of products that look pretty similar to Apple devices. My main examples here would have to be the Galaxy S and the QX-310 laptop, which look pretty similar to the iPhone 3GS and Macbook Pro respectively. Not so sure about the Galaxy Tab looking like the iPad though – it’s hard to see how to distinguish a rectangular screen from another rectangular screen. I guess the notion ink Adam and… Read more »
You know what would make Tim Cook the coolest CEO around? If he ended these lawsuits around the world, and if Apple actually competed, rather than just suing.
Tim Cook is driving it. he’s been running the show for the last two years. your think Jobs only stepped down 3 months ago. notice the timing of the increase in apple lawsuits?
Let me get this right, Samsung voluntary offered to delay the launch of the Galaxy 10.1 until the court officially decides to grant an injunction or not. Meanwhile anyone who try to sell them to the Australian public get a “quiet” word from Apple despite of no court ordered injunction in place until now???
That’s wrong, man!!! Apple had no legal right to tell retailers what they can or can’t sell if they was no court order in place. It’s wrong! Pure and simple!!
Damn, that sucks big time.
Such a shame. Goes to show Apple aren’t interested in competition and being the best. They just want to thwart opponents efforts so they don’t have to make the better product.
That’s so balls.
You can still grab them off Mobicity, right?
Apple need to compete, not sue.
This disapproving comment posted from my imported Galaxy Tab
WOW. Where is the -1 button when you need it?