Whatever concerns there were about Samsung possibly not being allowed to sell Galaxy Tabs in UK can now be put to rest. Apple's lawsuit against the Tab 7.7, 10.1 and 8.9 has been dismissed. We are sad to say that patent infringement lawsuits have become the favorite tool in IT corporations' attempts to eliminate the competition.
Currently, Apple is the most relentless as far as lawsuit filing goes, to the point where more than one person has begun to call it a genuine patent troll, regardless of the wins and losses.
We lost count of its many courtroom debacles long ago, but recent events have not been going in its favor (with the obligatory
exceptions, naturally).
To give a couple of examples, HTC one-upped it and even Kodak
managed to squeeze a win. Now, we are going back to the now infamous
spat between Apple and Samsung, where the former keeps trying to ban the latter's slates.
The UK ended up not repeating the
Australia incident, as we have taken to calling it. Rather than banning sales of the Galaxy Tab slates, the court decided there were more than enough differences between them and Apple's iPad.
In fact, it ruled that the differences were clearly visible, especially on the front panel, side profiles and the rear surface.
To give the court even more credit, it “dismissed Apple’s arguments by referring to approximately 50 examples of prior art, or designs that were previously created or patented, from before 2004.”
Knight Ridder (1994), the Ozolin (2004), and HP’s TC1000 (2003) were only three of those examples
“The court found numerous Apple design features to lack originality, and numerous identical design features to have been visible in a wide range of earlier tablet designs from before 2004,” the ruling said, according to
Pocket-Lint.
Apple has yet to comment on the decision in any way, but we're certain they will press forward. Until such a time, the Galaxy tab 7.7, 10.1 and 8.9 will continue selling in the United Kingdom.
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