Apple blocks Samsung Galaxy tablet sales in EU

SEOUL/SAN FRANCISCO — Apple Inc scored its most significant victory in its intellectual property battle against Samsung Electronics after a German court temporarily barred the Korean firm from selling its flagship Galaxy tablet in most of the European Union.

The court order comes a week after Samsung was forced to delay the Australian launch of its latest Galaxy tablet because of a separate lawsuit alleging Samsung infringed on a number of Apple’s patents.

Apple has said Samsung’s Galaxy line of mobile phones and tablets “slavishly” copied the iPhone and iPad. It has sued in the United States, Australia and elsewhere. Samsung, whose tablets are based on Google Inc’s Android software, has countersued Apple.

“There’s no doubt the court decision will have an adverse effect on Samsung. Samsung is clashing with Apple in many places, which could result in a temporary fall in sales and increase costs related to litigation,” said Lee Seung-woo, an analyst at Shinyoung Securities in Seoul.

Apple confirmed that a district court in the German city of Dusseldorf granted the preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

“It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging,” said Apple’s London-based spokesman Adam Howorth. “This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.”

The ban applies throughout the European Union, except the Netherlands, where a Hague-based court said separate hearings were scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. Apple would not say why it filed a separate case in the Netherlands.

“It’s a strategy Apple has adopted to completely prevent Samsung from putting its tablet into the market place,” said Nathan Mattock, an intellectual property lawyer at Marque Lawyers in Sydney.

Samsung’s mobile unit, which includes handsets and tablet PCs, generated 30 per cent of the technology giant’s revenue in the second quarter. The bulk of the rest comes from memory chips and televisions, sectors where Samsung is the global leader.

Samsung, the world’s biggest technology company by revenues said it would challenge the court decision.

Shares in Samsung, which raked in 154.6 trillion Korean won ($142 billion) in sales last year, ended 0.6 per cent lower in a broader market up 0.3 per cent.

“The request for an injunction was filed with no notice to Samsung, and the order was issued without any hearing or presentation of evidence from Samsung,” Samsung said in a statement.

“I think we will be rigorously defending our position,” Younghee Lee, senior vice president of global marketing at Samsung’s mobile business, told Reuters in New Delhi.

Lee, who was unveiling the Galaxy Tab in India on Wednesday, said Samsung would launch the Tab in Australia in September.

In a statement, Samsung Germany said it would file an objection immediately.

“Samsung will protect its intellectual property in Germany with legal measures. We will also actively continue to defend our rights worldwide.”

Apple’s move raises the stakes for Google, which has accused its biggest rivals of banding together to hamper its increasingly popular Android operating system, after it lost a bid to buy thousands of patents from bankrupt Nortel.

Without patents, companies’ devices are vulnerable to challenges for royalties or, worse, demands from rivals to withdraw the products from the market place.

Samsung has been locked in a battle with Apple over smartphone and tablet patents since April. The Galaxy gadgets are seen as among the biggest challengers to Apple’s mobile devices, which have achieved runaway success. — Reuters