Samsung loses bid to lift Galaxy Tab ban

KOREAN INDUSTRIAL GIANT Samsung has lost a motion to lift the ban on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the US.

US District Court Judge Lucy Koh last week granted Apple a preliminary injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet, agreeing with the cappucino company's claims that it "slavishly copies" the Ipad and therefore Samsung should not be allowed to sell it.

"Although Samsung has a right to compete, it does not have a right to compete unfairly, by flooding the market with infringing products," Judge Koh said.

Judge Koh today rejected Samsung's motion to lift that injunction and get its tablet back on shelves, Reuters reports, ruling that the firm had not established a likelihood of success on appeal. Samsung has also asked the court to lift the ban on its Galaxy Nexus smartphone in the US, but Judge Koh is yet to reach a decision.

Following the ruling Samsung told The INQUIRER, "Samsung is disappointed with the court's decision that denied our motion to stay. We believe today's ruling will ultimately reduce the availability of superior technological features to consumers in the United States.

"Regardless, we will continue to pursue a request for an appeal of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 preliminary injunction, which we filed on June 26 to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit."

However, it's unlikely that this latest ruling will affect Samsung too much, as the injunction doesn't apply to the more recent Galaxy Tab 10.1 2.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 patent infringement lawsuit between Apple and Samsung will go to trial on 30 July. Apple was unavailable for comment at the time of writing. µ