Samsung wins against Apple in Australia

KOREAN HARDWARE OUTFIT Samsung has won the right to sell its Galaxy Tab 10.1in tablet in Australia, having fought off a preliminary injunction that had been granted to Apple.

According to a report at the Sydney Morning Herald, the full bench of the Federal Court, which includes Justices John Dowsett, Lindsay Foster and David Yates, unanimously reversed an earlier Federal Court judge's ruling that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 should banned from sale in Australia.

"Samsung will be permitted to launch the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia provided it keeps accounts of all transactions involving that device in Australia," said the ruling seen by the SMH.

Apple still has a few days in which to revel in the fact that it stopped its rival from selling hardware in Australia, as Samsung will not be allowed to put its tablets back on sale until the end of this week.

Apple won the ban against the Galaxy Tab 10.1in tablet in September, at which time Samsung promised to fight it. There were suggestions that it might have waited until next year to respond with its arguments, which would have made it miss out on the important holiday sales season. It will have a good few weeks to punt its hardware now, though.

We have asked both Apple and Samsung to comment.

Update
Apple did not comment on this ruling, but said that it will continue to pursue Samsung and what it sees as blatant copying of its designs.

"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 a spokesperson. "This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple's intellectual property when companies steal our ideas." µ