Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Apple vs. Samsung: Samsung Galaxy Tablets Banned in the EU


Apple can claim a victory in their legal battle with Samsung. Apple has various “multi-country patent infringement” suits against Samsung claiming the Samsung Galaxy tab and line of Galaxy smartphones are replicas of the iPad and iPhone. “Apple blocks Samsung from selling Galaxy tablet in EU” by Hyunjoo Jin and Poornima Gupta of Reuters.com report a German court has banned Samsung from selling their tablet in all areas of the European Union, except the Netherlands.

The response from Samsung:

“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”

While Apple is a customer of Samsung, purchasing their mobile chips, Samsung is becoming one of their substantial competitors as the Galaxy tab and phones are enjoying success. Samsung’s tablet has also gotten good reviews compared to other non-Apple tablets. Nevertheless, Apple is still the market leader.

Brian White, an analyst, was quoted as saying “if Samsung is violating Apple’s IP (intellectual property) rights, we believe Apple could enjoy even further success in these markets in the coming years”. Whether believing Samsung to have intentionally copied Apple products or Apple trying to stop the only other successful tablet in the market, the legal battles could cripple Samsung; It would leave Apple's position as market leader secure. I like competition between manufacturers, I think it’s one of the reasons that Apple continues to push out products even when their current products are highly successful. But Apple could be right, and only future legal rulings can prove them wrong.

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