Apple loses bid to ban reworked Galaxy Tab in Germany

TOY MAKER FOR THE WELL HEELED Apple has lost a German Court case to ban Samsung's reworked Galaxy Tab 10.1N.

According to Bloomberg, the Dusseldorf Regional Court rejected Apple's motion for an emergency ruling on Thursday.

The court said in a statement, "The Galaxy Tab 10.1N now sufficiently differs from the form Apple has registered as a design right. Apple's iPads and Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1N now are two competing products of equal value."

Apparently the judges decided that the Galaxy 10.1N is no longer a "quasi-identical copy" of the Ipad, rejecting the claim that Samsung is exploiting the reputation Apple's products have earned.

"It's odd to claim that buyers are fooled into thinking they buy an Apple product if they get the Samsung device," said Deputy Presiding Judge Ulrike Pastohr. "You don't buy consumer electronics like you would buy butter in a supermarket, you're much more attentive."

The ruling comes after just a week ago Apple lost an intial battle to get a preliminary ban on sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1N tablet and Galaxy Nexus smartphone in another German court.

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

However, also last week, a ban on the original 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 10.1N. Apple challenged the reworked version, but last month a German court rejected its claims in a preliminary judgment.

The German court cases started when 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