Samsung was hoping that reworking their Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 by changing some of its physical features and then renaming it the 10.1N will be enough for it to fly under Apple’s radar and successfully sell the modified Samsung tablet in Germany, where it has been legally banned to sell the Galaxy Tab. But, as anyone who has read of Samsung’s attempt at trying to hoodwink Apple knows their attempt is bound to fail.
And it did. Apple has now filed a new motion that seeks to ban Samsung from selling the modified 10.1N tablet. The original ban was promulgated early this year and was made permanent last September. Apple claims that the Galaxy Tab 10.1’s design looks too much like the Apple iPad, hence, Samsung’s attempt to “change†the 10.1N with a modified bezel.
Apple is now asking for a preliminary injunction and looking to have the sales of 10.1N in Germany banned. According to Dow Jones Newswires, the hearing will be conducted on December 22 at Dusseldorf.
Apple’s lawyers are contending that the changes in design from the Galaxy 10.1 and the 10.1N are quite small and thus still infringes on the patents that Apple owns. They will also argue that these changes are insignificant and it is still not big enough to be able to tell it apart from Apple’s iPad.
Samsung has issued a statement saying that Apple’s new legal motions will not have an impact on the sales and distribution of the 10.1N. They may be referring to the fact that until the court rules otherwise, Samsung can still sell the 10.1N, which is still being featured in many online shopping sites in Germany. The 10.1N sells for 530 euros.
Even with the scheduled Dec. 22 hearing, it looks like Samsung eventually did pull a fast one on Apple. The Christmas shopping frenzy will have started to die down by then so Samsung will have definitely squeezed in product sales during that time.
Originally posted on December 1, 2011 @ 6:31 pm