The Court of Hague shoots down Apple's appeal and gives Samsung the field

Jan 24, 2012 13:08 GMT  ·  By

The whole drama starring Apple and Samsung has gone through yet another episode, one that the former was definitely displeased with.

Apple and Samsung used to be almost the best of friends until the latter created a tablet that became a threat to Apple's iPad.

Apple was quick to sue Samsung over alleged patent infringement, arguing, among other things, that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 was too easy to mistake for its own invention.

We have now learned that the Dutch court tasked with figuring out whether or not that was true has reached a verdict.

Granted, an initial ruling was passed last year, in October, and swung in Samsung's favor, preventing the sort of ban that happened in Australia.

Apple immediately appealed it, though, which meant that the court in The Hague had to pick up the case and review it.

Now, the appeal has been shot down, which means that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 can go on selling in The Netherlands without a care in the world.

Long story short, the Court of The Hague reportedly established that, despite what Apple claims, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is not so similar to the iPad.

As such, there is no cause to rule against the coexistence of the two, even if they will always be after one another's customer base.

All things considered, Samsung turned out to have a much easier time in this case than it did in the Australian one.

There, it actually did see the Galaxy Tab 10.1 banned, until the appeal court lifted the injunction just before the winter holidays.

The only other region where Apple won a significant victory early on is Germany, but a modified Tab 10.1N has been selling there for some time already.

Ironically, Apple can be said to have done Samsung a favor by so relentlessly attacking the slate.

Nevertheless, Apple still has a number of ongoing lawsuits against its rival in other parts of the world, so we have definitely not seen the end of the animosity between them.