Samsung Tablet Ban Lifted For Most of EU

jkcity writes "The ban on sales of Samsung's 10.1 tablet in the EU has been lifted everywhere except Germany. The new ruling is in effect until August 25th while it is decided whether the original court had the power to enforce an EU wide ban. With allegations that submitted evidence was not 100% accurate, the case could be bogged down in the court for years."

Comments

Honest Mistake

[Spad]

So they accidentally resized the image of the 10.1 so that it looked identical to the iPad for a side-by-side comparison, it's a mistake anyone could have made on a key page of court-submitted legal documents...

Re:Honest Mistake

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, of course. Since the point was to show how similar the two tablets are, what better way to demonstrate it than to resize them to the same aspect-ratio and remove all brand-logos and other stuff setting them apart. Apple is only trying to make help the court reach the correct and just decision. That is how userfriendly they are, always making it easier.

Re:Honest Mistake

[maxwell demon]

But they could have helped seeing the similarity even further by simply using two iPad images. Nobody would have missed the stunning similarity between the devices.

Re:Honest Mistake

[tdc_vga]

Don't forget that if they'd simply bothered to show up to the ex-parte hearing, Samsung could have easily informed the court that the camera man had made such a terrible mistake. So, clearly, it's their fault.

Re:Honest Mistake

[robthebloke]

Oh, so they've added copy and paste then? :p

Re:Honest Mistake

[Grizzley9]

So you're basically calling that judicial system incompetent since they don't look at, you know, the *actual products*? Something tells me that making this kind of a judgement that affects millions of dollars would require a little more scrutiny than looking at a thumbnail pic on a legal sheet. That or you don't know jack about the details of the case and what actually happened and are just slinging soundbites.

so good apple tried to ban it!

[DMoylan]

so good apple tried to ban it!

you can't buy advertising that good!

disclaimer-very happy with the 7" tab

Re:Android tablets

[Z00L00K]

And then - explain why Apple really felt the need to attack Samsung using a lawsuit?

If a product is bad it will just result in the situation where nobody buys it.

Re:Everywhere except Germany

[Anonymous Coward]

There are lots of reasons to *not* buy an iPad. The dubious recent behaviour of Apple is just one of them (and I speak as someone who only has Macs at home).

For example, I bought an EeePad Transformer yesterday.

I did not need to plug it into a computer capable of running the latest iTunes - I just turned it on and connected it to our wifi network and it updated itself. I did not need to sign up for an account and register my machine with Asus (or Google). I have a proper keyboard and USB ports. I can use a browser that is *not* based on WebKit if I want to (e.g. Opera).

The HP Touchpad has other issues though - primarily that it's a terrible clone of an iPad with an OS nobody wants except for novelty value. I can't imagine why anyone would want a Blackberry Playbook for much the same reason.

Community designs as were use for the injuntion

[Anonymous Coward]

The following article has some very interesting information about Community Designs, which were used for getting the original injunction.

Community designs are basically unreviewed sketches of products which can be used to silently get an injunction for your competitors product.
No checks are done for obviousness, nor for prior art.

They're still trying to ban the entire galaxy line

[QuasiSteve]

Apple is actually seeking a ban on all of the Galaxy products, including the original tab and the Galaxy S2 smartphone, in The Netherlands.
This is not just a ban from Samsung importing them. It's a ban on retailers to sell them (i.e. they need to recall them) and distributors distributing them (to other countries). So that 'good advertising' would only last for as long as they're still allowed to sell it - which might be until mid October if they're unlucky.

In addition Apple demand that in Samsung's recall notice to distributors and retailers, they make note that the product infringes on Apple IP.

It seems very much a "Let's demand the ridiculous - any toning down by the judge will then fall in our favor" type move, but I'm sure they're actually quite serious.
Source: http://webwereld.nl/nieuws/107630/apple--gehele-galaxy-lijn-moet-uit-de-schappen.html

Apple isn't scoring any brownie points with these demands, that's for sure. One major online news site's (nu.nl) comments are replete with negative comments toward Apple, even from avid Apple fans, and they're not doing much better over at the #1 tech news site for NL/BE (tweakers.net).

Not that I think it'll impact Apple's bottom line in any way. ha.

I have no doubt that they would extend this to the EU.

Re:Android tablets

[ByOhTek]

Aside from the lack of apps, which is true, I'd have to say, I find my Toshiba Thrive much less clunky than an iPad. Yes it's larger, but it has a higher screen resolution, USB (which works with a hub) that can connect to a keyboard and mouse if I like, I believe it can do the same with bluetooth, DVI, audio, and storage can be expanded both with USB drives and a /SD([XH]C)?/ card.

I have access to an excellent email client, good web browsers, flash (actually, I'd uninstall it if I could, for security reasons), quite a few excellent games, good calendar apps... This is without resorting to apps that I have to pay for.

It has also been stable, and high performance.