Yesterday must have been an interesting day in Apple’s legal department. Having earlier gotten around the European Injunction on selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 by releasing the 10.1N (the difference is the wider bezel), Samsung has now had a similar ban lifted in Australia. This comes hot on the heals of Apple failing to get Samsung’s phones and tablets banned in the US.
Samsung responded with this new default TouchWiz background
Meanwhile, from our “what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander” department, Motorola has managed to succeed in Germany where Apple failed in the US and has managed to get iPhones and iPads banned in Germany. The ban has to do with Motorola’s 3G patent and impacts only those models with 3G connectivity. What most fascinates me about this is that Motorola can use this case to build precedent and go after other tablet brands in Germany, like the aforementioned Galaxy Tab 10.1N.
What about travelers? Is this just for selling them? Or using them?
Selling. No-one is going to stop you from taking one into the country.
“What most fascinates me about this is that Motorola can use this case to build precedent and go after other tablet brands in Germany, like the aforementioned Galaxy Tab 10.1N.”
While I’m not entirely sure how German law works
Guh, accidentally posted a post I was editing and then going to scrap…
Okay, actual comment this time. I did some digging and…
http://www.bgr.com/2011/12/09/sales-of-apples-iphone-ipad-banned-by-german-court/
According to this story, the recent ruling is preliminary and only enforceable against an Ireland subsidiary known as Apple Sales International, though the article doesn’t say how much German product is supplied by that specific subsidiary.
That said, while I don’t know about the the German Civil Law system I’d be wary about saying that Motorola could use this case as “precedent”. There’s really no such thing as judicial precedent in the Roman-Civil Law system found in the European continent, so any appellate judge would be basing the decision not on case law, but the vast body of codified law that governs court decisions in that legal tradition. (Or maybe I’m splitting hairs, because Motorola might likely use similar legal strategies in going after things like the Galaxy Tab.)