Earlier this week an Australian court granted Apple an injunction against Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1, banning sales of the device there until a final ruling is handed down in the trial between the two companies. We've yet to see anything similar happen here in the U.S., but during Apple and Samsung's time in court yesterday, some noteworthy developments did occur. Judge Lucy Koh has indicated that she feels that Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 does infringe on Apple's iPad-related patents, although she stopped short of actually issuing an injunction because she thinks that Apple may have a problem proving the validity of its patents. Koh also said that she wouldn't grant an injunction based on one of Apple's "utility" patents but did not comment on the company's three design patents.
At one point during yesterday's court meeting between Apple and Samsung, Judge Koh held both the Tab 10.1 and iPad above her head and asked a Samsung lawyer to identify which was which. The lawyer, who was about 10 feet away from the judge at the time, said that she could not. "Can any of Samsung's lawyers tell me which one is Samsung and which one is Apple?" the judge asked. Another of Samsung's attorneys then stepped in to correctly answer the question.
Keeping up with the Samsung/Apple legal tiff news, it seems that a Dutch court has denied Samsung's request for an injunction against several of 3G-enabled Apple products. The court also shot down Apple's counterclaims against Samsung, ultimately ordering the two companies to pay each other's legal costs.
Getting back to the battle between Apple and Samsung on our turf, it seems like both companies scored small victories during yesterday's hearing. Samsung believes that it has successfully raised "substantial questions" about the validity of Apple's patents in the case. However, I'm sure that Samsung is not terribly pleased about the fact that one of its lawyers couldn't correctly differentiate the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and iPad from 10 feet away. It's not clear exactly when we'll hear more from this case, but Judge Koh has said that she plans to issue a formal order on her thoughts about Apple's utility patent "fairly promptly." Stay tuned.
Via Reuters (1), (2)
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