German court upholds Galaxy Tab 10.1 sales ban after hearing

Apple scored a pretty big victory in their ongoing court battles with Samsung in Germany. The Dusseldorf court just confirmed the ban on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 shipments in Germany, as the slate was found guilty on infringing Apple's patents.

If you need a memory refresh, the German story started with Apple winning an injunction against the sales of Galaxy Tab 10.1 across all of the EU. Later the court lifted the ban outside Germany because it suddenly realized that it has no jurisdiction over the Korean-based company.

Samsung's problems continued when the German court extended the ban to include the freshly announced Galaxy Tab 7.7. Just a day after it was announced at the IFA in Berlin, the 7-inch tablet disappeared from Samsung's booth because the court ruling prohibits not only the sale, but also promotion of the infringing devices.

Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 is already banned in Australia and Apple is already on its way to the Japanese courtrooms. Apple also managed to secure a preliminary injunction that bans the Galaxy S II, Galaxy S and Galaxy Ace in Europe starting on October 13th for infringing a single Apple patent - a gesture one.

Today's decision from the court in Dusseldorf confirms the ban of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany. The ruling is in favor of the plaintiff (Apple) because there is a "clear impression of similarity" between the iPad and the Galaxy Tab 10.1. This happened despite Apple presenting tampered evidence in court.

Samsung is prepping to appeal in higher courts, so this is far from over, but shipping will probably remain forbidden for the duration of the trial.

The most disturbing thing here is that the German court really believes Samsung (or any other manufacturer actually) should make their tablets different from the iPad. The following quotes from a technology expert really say it all:

"The judge basically said that only Apple is allowed to sell thin square tablets with round edges. That's just insane."

Let's hope this madness ends soon as we can't see anyone gaining too much from it. Even if Apple do win in the end, Samsung will probably fix the infringing parts and still bring the tablets to market. And we aren't sure a few months of market advantage are worth the inevitable bad PR for Apple. Plus, us, end-users are not exactly benefiting from the decreased competition.

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