Apple fails to ban Samsung Galaxy 10.1N and Galaxy Nexus

SHINY TOY MAKER Apple has lost a legal battle to get a preliminary ban on sales of Samsung's Galaxy 10.1 N tablet and Galaxy Nexus smartphone in a German court.

According to Bloomberg, Apple's attempt to get the devices banned for allegedly infringing a patent relating to screen technology was rejected by the Munich Regional Court.

"Samsung has shown that it is more likely than not that the patent will be revoked because of a technology that was already on the market before the intellectual property had been filed for protection," Judge Andreas Mueller said in his ruling.

Earlier this week, we reported that a ban on the orginal Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany was upheld by a Duesseldorf court.

Samsung redesigned the tablet specifically for the German market, and renamed it the Galaxy Tab 10.1 N. Apple challenged the reworked version, but last month a German court rejected its claims in a preliminary judgment. A final ruling will be made on 9 February.

Samsung has countersued Apple in Germany, and the court in Mannheim has ruled against Samsung relating to two of its patents. Last week, we reported that Samsung lost a second court case against Apple's Iphone in Germany.

The court cases come after Apple sued Samsung last year, saying Samsung's products "slavishly" copied the Ipad and Iphone. Samsung then countersued Apple and legal battles between the two companies have spread worldwide. µ