“Apple has been granted a preliminary injunction against Samsung’s Android-based Galaxy Tab 10.1, barring with immediate effect all distribution of the product in the entire European Union except for the Netherlands on the grounds of an alleged infringement of Apple’s iPad-related [European] Community design no. 000181607-0001,” Florian Mueller reports for FOSS Patents.
“I can confirm that Apple has a separate lawsuit underway in the Netherlands as well, asserting the same Community design. This was also confirmed by a court in The Hague to Dutch website Webwereld. There are differences in competition law between Germany and the Netherlands, which is why Apple filed separate lawsuits,” Mueller reports. “In Germany, Apple asserts not only an infringement of the said Community design but also cites unfair competition grounds, denouncing the Galaxy Tab as an iPad imitation.”
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Mueller reports, “Apple also asked for a similar preliminary injunction in Australia, and Samsung has, as a result, postponed the launch of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 without committing to a new launch date in Australia… Even though most of my blog posts relate to litigation in the United States, I’m actually a native and still a resident of Germany. The Düsseldorf district court has a reputation for being our equivalent of the Eastern District of Texas in terms of a strong tendency to favor the interests of right holders over those of alleged infringers. About half of all European (!) patent litigation takes place before that court. But apart from that particular court’s inclinations, German intellectual property law is much stricter than U.S. intellectual property law with respect to injunctions. In the U.S., an injunction is granted only if the four-factor test is satisfied. Over here, a patent holder is always entitled to an injunction (if an infringement of a valid patent claim is proven, of course).”
Much more in the full article here.
Related article:
Apple wins court order blocking Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 from sale in Europe – August 9, 2011
Interesting insight into how patent law works elsewhere in the world.
Samsung didn’t lose this case on patent law, the ruling was due to a design infringement.
In other words, what Samsung is selling looks too much like an iPad.
However, the patent issues are still to be addressed, which could be a much more serious matter if Apple wins that one.
Ultimately, it is not Apple, it Samsung who blocked itself in Europe. Their product are so blatant rip-off that only religious anti-Apple fanatics can blindly deny this and assert that these designs are “different”.
It might be somewhat irrelevant to note, as Mr. Mueller himself has the courtesy to recently disclaim, he is an Android user and prefers that platform more. He seems to carry an impartial tone in his reports and fantastic analyses for the laymen like me; however, his tone, to my reading, came across a tad less enthused here.
“impartial tone” ≠ “enthused”
If he doesn’t sound enthused (or unenthused), then that is impartial.
Then again, perhaps my sarcasm detector is malfunctioning. 🙂
Your sarcasm gun may not be off; I wasn’t being sarcastic. However, I was trying to be a bit too clever when I said “a tad less enthused,” implying that he carried a disappointed tone, according to my reading.
And so indeed, disappointed != neutral, which I didn’t feel he was being. Having said all that, I just re-read his post, and it was professionally writ, as usual for him, and suggesting anything less would be disingenuous on my part. I think I may have read something into it that wasn’t there, and for that I take back what I had insinuated earlier, though rather timidly.
I love the spin in this article. These courts don’t favor the “interests” of “rights holders”… they respect the RIGHTS of rights holders.
It is a shame that you can’t get justice everywhere else as well.
They act as if this means that these court cases are somehow being decided in a biased way, but the reality is, these rights exist everywhere and in all the courts, its just the most courts in any country are corrupt, and thus their rulings are less consistent.
Also, the Düsseldorf court is not so equivalent to Lufkin, TX. In the Texas version it’s not so much a matter of rights holders as it is a preference for plaintiffs, especially when the local jury pool is sympathetic with the local court system, and the defendant is a large compnay.
Remains to be seen whether this is good for Apple. It could, after all, allow Samsung an excuse for the embarrassment of selling virtually no Galaxy Tabs – an outcome that was pretty much assured, regardless of the legal position.
I am guessing that it was necessary for Apple to assert its rights in a timely manner in order to preserve its ability to battle future infringement. Besides, a successful preemptive strike now sets a precedent that may deter future infringement – the definition of a “win-win.”
I remember the day when that asswipe of a judge ruled that Microsoft could rip off the Mac OS.
It ushered in the are of darkness and ignorance that the world still hasnt recovered from.
Thanks a lot jackass!
I hope you live in Windows hell forever.
If Samsung could go back to mouse and stylus instead of ripping off the Apple’s unique multi-touch, then it would be okay to let Samsung off the hook.
You f’ing sheep… You think apple invented everything…
Icon docks have been around, since Apple was still manufacturing the Apple IIe Platinum – look it up, sheep. It’s called the Common Desktop Environment (CDE). Not to mention, OS/2 3.0/4.0 also had a dock.
As for outward appearances, please – google images of the 2007/2008 Navigon 2100/2200 and especially the 7200, and tell me the iPhone/iPad aren’t replicating the same appearance.
The FruitFanBoyz are so gullible and brainwashed, that even CONTINUAL proof of Apple intellectual theft still get ignored.
Multitouch?
Yep – invented in the 80’s, entire research documents written about it.
icon docks? Covered. – theft of OSF designs
Cosmetic look? Covered. Navigon, and MANY others, already made designs like that.
Next?
Theft of Android’s notification bar for iOS5.
So who’s the thief?
Re: Apple Steals…. You dork those are GPS units and you can bet your sweet A** that if Apple ripped off the IP of THOSE things… we’d heard about already. Apple or the Fan boys never said Apple invented multi-touch you dork… Apple PERFECTED it. No one ever said Apple invented the dock….. and again if they Ripped off some IP… we’d heard about it Eastern texas already……. So who’s LIAR!!
I DOOOO love it when the Android heads explode.
Say what you want, but can you just stop spitting froth when you speak. Quite unhygienic.
Oh by the way….Ford invented the car (or maybe mot, but lets assume that they did) that does not mean that all Mercedes, BMW’s and Porches stole that design of four wheels a few seats and a steering wheel. On that note, Korians also copy bits and pieces of BMW’s and Mercedes. They should really be taken to court on those too.
Paul you are a bit out of touch with reality and i suggest you take your morning pills. The only company that have not copy apple so fahr on tablets and phone are HP and Microsoft.
Google as not brought anything to the table beside a blatant copy of OS for iphone and makes million from it with advertise and laughs all the way to the bank. The reality is that you can’t legally and morally copy other people pruduct and innovation. Samsung is the bad boy of copy with no morality or what so ever and that all with the blessing of google. To start samsung and others crying baby now could pring to the table some innovation tecnology and not copy with a free operating system copyed from apple…where do you see any fahrness in all that? COPY BESIDE IMMORAL IS ALSO ILLEGAL – SO PLEASE DO NOT CONDONE THAT. TECNOLOGY IS ABOUT INNOVATION AND NOT COPY
Moron:
CDE introduced in 1993 – NeXTStep introduced in 1989 with said “Dock”. Mac OS X and its dock are from Apple’s acquisition of Next and its OS.
Multi-touch – name one smartphone with multi-touch before the iPhone, hell, name one portable computing device with multi-touch? Apple got much of its multi-touch technology from a company they purchased in 2005 called FingerWorks. Even before the iPhone, multi-touch was used in Apple laptops.
Navigon!? Really? So Apple introduced the iPhone in Jan of 2007, but they somehow copied the look from a Navigon GPS unit released a full year later?
No wonder Apple is so far ahead – they have a time machine!
Dont u love it when the androids heads explode.
I’m gonna enjoy the slow agonizing death of Andread
Android head?
Sheesh…really letting that Sheepness show through.
Automatically assuming…
I use WebOS, thanks.
As to Navigon, their units came out starting in 2006/2007 – I just pointed out a larger one – of course the biased sheep don’t bother to google anything… I hoped some sheep would be half intelligent enough to at least search. Guess I was asking for two much, you all being blind followers and all. I mean, it takes a REAL dolt to pay $1000+ for a damn Core2Duo laptop in 2010/2011.
And CDE was released in 1993, and it was OSF, can’t recall Apple buying OSF… hmm…
So you basically said what everyone says: apple put multitouch, a 20yr old technology, on a phone, and all of a sudden they invented multitouch?
So… lemme get this straight…
whoever invented the auto, because he put wheels on it, no matter that even roman chariots had them, he invented them?
Lame, lame, lame – just as all SheepBoyz are…
The industry innovates, Apple regurgitates.
Hopefully the jude pulls his head out of his his, like DaveyBoy above, and realizes that insinuating the Galaxy Tab looks like the iPad2 is actually insulting.
It’s thinner, lighter, faster, and actually works.
Not to mention that MoronDave fails to realize those Navigon units are just windows CE devices with an AutoRun – run one command, and it’s a 7″ InCE tablet – Dave, learn some tech, ya might sound half-intelligent.
As to the jobspad, My wifes iJunk can’t even surf freaking flash sites.
I can do that on a POS Palm Pre phone for crying out loud!
Oh, and Michael, IBM CUA in 1987, HP VUE in 1988.
Please – we can go all day – it is DOCUMENTED.
Since Xerox/PARC, Apple has done nothing but steal others ideas, and claim them as their own, the latest iteration being the Android notification bar.
No matter what, the sheep will never face the truth.
It’s like a family with a black sheep – no one acknowledges, noone admits, they figure it they just ignore it, it won’t exist.
I can’t be bothered to read through your rant/tirade sparkling with childish name callings, in order to discover if you might have, somewhere, miraculously made a valid argument/point of sort.
From a cursory glance, it appears you are an angry person (may not be good for your health). Good thing we don’t have to accept your “opinions” just like you don’t have to put up with ours. How great it is then that we have neutral judicial courts to decide these matters for us, as they’ve just found Samsung to have indeed copied Apple product slavishly enough to impose a wide ban throughout most of Europe.
Crazy, right?
@AppleSteals..
You only forget 1 little thing…apple copies…sure, but they pay royalties… Not something we can say about Google with their Java….errrr Android Mobile OS
How’s your decaf coming?
@Applesteals
Goodness, you’re one ANGRY boy. I guess all those companies that you allege Apple stole from were either litigiously lazy, inept or simply mistaken, as I don’t recall a single successful case against Apple to support your maniacal assertions. They obviously cared less about their intellectual property than you do,
Just as an aside, despite your psychotic chronicling of alleged abuses, I notice that you omit Microsoft’s theft of the windows GUI for some reason.
Best you take your medication and chill with your Flash-free wife and her iThingamee before you burst something.
I’m only saying this because I care, AppleSteals: There are a lot of decaffeinated brands on the market that are just as tasty as the real thing.
The Tab is still available in The Netherlands and last I checked that is still in Europe.
Sarasota: Yeah, I kinda’ have the feeling that the rest of Europe will kinda say, meh, do what you want, DE, we’re selling tabs, thanks.
EU is like that little chihuahua that the neighbor on the corner has…
All bark, runs in cicles, from one side to the other, but when it all comes down, z-e-r-o bite.
tells me you don’t know much about chihuahuas. Better be careful, they will bite. I know, I have one
@krquet:
My point is simple – the generic black-framed tablet design has existed for eons – just ask Archos, and even before to not-specifically-tablet designs. As to the aluminum backing, that’s just a natural evolution of having to use faster and faster processors, while making the devices smaller and thinner, just as happened with home AV receivers, amateur radios, and any other heat-producing device: the heatsink gets integrated into the design.
As to the GUI/dock, I’ve already covered that one – that goes back to the 80’s even before NeXT – Arthur (predecessor to RiscOS from Acorn) had an icon dock in 1987. Next didn’t have anything near working until near the end of 1988.
I’m just saying…instead of blindly following, a little research is in order. Noone can ever argue the point the Steve Jobs with Apple is one of the greatest marketing minds the world has seen, but everyone knows he’s not on the up-and-up, and never has been.
When he’s gone, and Apple needs to replace him with someone not so adept at revisionist inventing, Apple will be back to where it was in the 80’s and then the 90’s – struggling to even survive.
Happened once, he came back as the savior, but that can only happen so many times.
Whatever, jackass.
AppleSteals:
first off, thank you for toning down the rhetoric a bit, we can now converse.
Secondly, the points you have made here, prior art, reinvention etc., are all acceptable; though we have differences of opinion as to whether or not Samsung have tried too close to ape/imitate Apple’s products to be legit. The point I have raised earlier, that independent of our opinions, and more so binding, is the court’s decision. This is where, people who are more intimate with these matters, have weighed in with more expertise, resources and legal powers. That matters more, whether you like it or not. Samsung has been found guilty; Apple so far not guilty on this count.
Trade dress lawsuits, I hope you understand (if not look it up), are a heck lot more difficult to prove/establish, precisely perhaps for the points/objections with prior arts that you have raised, than the regular patent infringement cases. Therefore, it is also more damning. Most companies don’t go the trade dress lawsuits very often as it may backfire. Apple was so sure of itself that they took on the risk and now reaping the payoff. Samsung, a state supported major conglomerate itself, has been exposed as copycats. Shameful anyway you want to spin it, and you have been trying.
Thirdly, my advice to you, hang out here at MDN on regular basis if you can. Many of these points from this other side will start to make sense to you. I have a distinct feeling, particularly from some of your rhetoric, that you have been getting your information from the anti-Apple echo chambers, where emotions often get in the way of facts. Some folks often tend to ridicule Apple consumers as “fanbois” reducing their opinions as if unreasonable. Most of us “fanbois” have found the exact opposite to be the reality for some time now. It is still mostly a Windows world we are subjected to (overwhelmingly at work, schools etc.), and so many of us (in ever growing numbers) have made opted for/chose Apple products via careful and informed decisions. Calling us fanbois/sheep etc. only paints you as someone misinformed, juvenile and worse, a shill.
Finally, many of your underhanded rhetoric against Steve Jobs and Apple innovation/re-innovation were cheap shots. You may think you’re on top of the history of Apple and/or computing in general, but it is obvious to many of us that you don’t know as much as you think you do. I can take apart many of these “points” you’ve raised, one by one, and many here can take you to task. But why bother, that’s what the MDN is all about, particularly with its great Related Article list section.
Meanwhile, I’ll just give you one example to chew on: you have repeatedly tried to throw insults at Apple users as sheep while championing Android powered Samsung. Are you aware of the sheep reference to Androids? Fire up your favourite search engine, here are the fewest of keywords so that you know the results aren’t being twisted: Android and sheep.
Or if you’re too lazy to look things up, just click here:
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Do_Androids_Dream_of_Electric_Sheep%3F
Next time, please cover your own bases before going out on full attack mode. It might leave you as exposed as Samsung just found itself to be—without pants.
I don’t need to look it up – of course alot of Android users are fanboys. Doesn’t change the facts.
Everone knows the EU is soft, and has dumb rules, especially in Germany, hence the “not so fast” in the Netherlands today.
Why?
EU basically gave Apple a CD (US equivalent is a Design Patent) for what digital picture frames have looked like since 2004-5, for packaging that AT&T has been using for nearly a decade, etc…
What will be the outcome of this case, is the injuntion being lifted, and Apple having to pay a HUGE amount of money over to Samsung, not just for loss of business, but for damages in the public eye, also.
I’ve said it before, I;ll say it again – Apple is not an innovator – they are a regurgitator. They steal others ideas (WIMP, icon docks, packaging, digital picture frame look, Android notification bar, etc – the list is endless) and claim they innovated something new.
As to not knowing history, I beg to differ – I’ve lived through it – I used TRS-80’s and Apple II’s in Jr/Sr high, watched Apple thieve Xerox/Parc of the Windows/Icons/Pointers/Mouse (along with Microsoft), watched Jobs rip off the icon dock from Arthur (1987) for NeXT (1988), and then Jobs returned to Apple, and true to form, continued ripping off others’ work, or prior art.
It’s well-documented, and ignoring it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
As suspected, you’re not only clueless, you appear dunce. I only offered one example of that in my previous post for you to educate and correct your folly going forward. I even provided a direct link in case you’re too lazy or confused. What did you do? You didn’t bother to even find out and made an assumption that I was suggesting that: “alot of Android users are fanboys.”
How clueless can you get? Let’s try this slowly for you then.
Android, from the fantastic science fiction ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ which the great movie Blade Runner was based on. More proof, Nexus, picked up Google branded Android phones. Whenever you try to act oh so smart by calling Apple users sheep in this regard, it really shows you absolute ignorance, and remarkable ability to not learn from mistakes even when someone tries to clue you in.
In that regard, you’re simply a troll, you talk at people instead of talking to them. Without understanding even the lone example of my post, you just went on: “I don’t need to look it up…”
It exposes you as someone lacking the skill to converse logically. All your points are suspect, which we all knew. I don’t buy any of your claims. You can’t prove anything, matter of fact, you can’t even argue properly. I won’t bother wasting my time on you. You’re a troll, and I’m simply moving on from you with contempt.
As I said, ignoring it, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
You want to bring up sci-fi movies, and crazy links, to skew off the subject. No, I didn’t follow the link, because I don’t need links to prove anything – evidence is already out there, and has been for decades.
Already we see, contrary to the norm, Samsung got an August 25 court date in Germany. We shall see then, if their Community Design for a 5year old digital picture frame design is valid.
When I use the term sheep, I mean as in blind followers, because of “cool factor,” and not price/performance, or even minimal function.
As an example, dropping $1000 for a 2011 MacBook (now discontinued), with the innards of a sub-$500 2009/2010 Wintel laptop (Core2Duo,2Gb RAM,etc..).
Oh, and I wasn’t championing Samsung, don’t have a Galaxy Tab (have an Asus Transformer on Android 3.2, an HP TouchPad), and don’t plan on getting one. Point was, Apple went out and underhandedly submitted a Community Design, for a cosmetic design which Samsung has been using for nearly a half-decade. Their CD basically describes the last 5-7 years of digital picture frame designs, and from more than just Samsung.
I won’t even get into the nastiness in the Apple-sanctioned factories and their conditions, where they think if they turn a blind eye, it doesn’t exist, thus is not their problem.
Face it – it’s a nasty company, led by a nasty person, who not only steal ideas and claim them as their own, but profit off the near slave labor conditions in the factories.
Google is your friend. Use it to your advantage. The overwhelming evidence is documented all over the interwebs.
Interesting conversation here. Apart from the obvious remarks that both Samsung and Apple have tablets, they clearly have their own individual differences and are not a blind copy of one another.
Anyone who has used Apple products, would know 2 things. One, Multi-touch beyond just being a technology, it is a science that is perfected in Apple phones and iPads. Its not just registering touch on a screen, it has some level of ingenuity to it. Most of the times, flawless.
Two, Apple software, despite its minimal features, are perfected to the core for the most part. You do not find it crashing on you or giving you a “force close” screen. Whatever is released, is done well.
On the other hand, Android OS has potential, but is mostly raw programmer like interface. Samsung has taken this interface to another level by giving it customized widgets for its 10.1 tabs.
Anyone using Android Touchscreen devices would know that the touch is not perfect. You may have to touch twice or thrice to get what you want it to do. Sometimes goes unresponsive or crashes on you.
I have had 2 ipad First Gens, and 1 ipad 2nd gen. I returned my ipad 2nd gen in 2 weeks. Its a sad excuse for an upgrade. The Cameras on them are pathetic other than for video purpose.
I bought myself a Samsung 10.1 Tab instead. Its not perfect, but gives a ton more flexibility and functionality that I could not get with an iPad.
My 2 yr old toddler loves the iPad interface. Easy to navigate and understand. However, Android tabs are for the grown ups and a more mature crowd.
Anyways, the point of everything being, it’s as clear as “Apples” and “Oranges”. Both are Fruits, but clearly have their differences. But I guess reality aren’t always as simple as that, and there will always be bullies and suckers.
385481 279376Respect to author , some excellent details . 60737