Despite the Europe-wide ban being lifted following a challenge from Samsung, the Dusseldorf district court has now reinstated the ban on the sale of the Galaxy tablet across Germany saying that it does infringe Apple’s IP.
This tussle is only a small part of the global IP battle between these two tech giants which is currently raging across the US, Australia and South Korea. In Europe at least, Samsung appears to be on the back foot as it was forced to withdraw its Galaxy Tab 7.7 from the IFA electronics fair in Berlin, one of the most important showcases in the industry.
However, Samsung has counter-claimed that Apple has infringed its wireless patents. And Apple is facing another challenge from HTC for infringement of patents which they acquired from Google.
Lawsuits are now being used as anti-competitive weapons to stall rivals’ product launches. The battle lines are being drawn: Apple v Samsung, Google and HTC; Apple v Android. Perhaps this will prove to be less one-sided than you might first imagine.