After several appearances in front of the Australian courts that stretched over several months, here is Apple managed to finally block sales of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia. The decision was taken last evening by an Australian judge, but it was expected even a few weeks ago when the first rumors appeared claiming that the judge would have been convinced to take this decision. The Australian judge decided that Samsung violated two patents of the Apple company and will no longer be able to sell the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 until the problems are fixed.
Apple has won its bid to force an injunction on tech rival Samsung, preventing its Galaxy Tab 10.1 from being sold in Australia. Apple is suing Samsung for patent infringement, arguing that the firm "slavishly" copied its market-leading iPad tablet. The interlocutory hearing, which is considering whether Samsung's competing tablet should be banned from the Australian market, revealed for the first time how serious a threat Apple regards Samsung to be.
This decision comes a few months after the one taken by a judge in Germany, a country where the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is currently not sold. In the Netherlands today, a similar ban came into force, but for smartphones from the Galaxy series Samsung modifies them now to be able to continue selling them in that country. Basically, Samsung loses the legal battles with Apple, but recently it decided to fight in a different way and in Australia it opened a store right next to an Apple Store and today it offers 10 Samsung Galaxy S II daily to the first 10 customers at the price of only $2 each. The promotion lasts until tomorrow, that is, until the launch of the iPhone 4S.
Samsung will have more to gain by moving the battle directly to the user and I'm glad to see that because Apple will be motivated to counterattack with even better offers.
