Last week, Apple succeeded in obtaining an EU-wide injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Apple was granted the injunction based on its complaint regarding its design patent and subsequently the Samsung Galaxy Tab was banned throughout the EU. A hearing was scheduled for 25th August to determine if the ban should be made permanent.

Well, as expected, Apple has suffered a setback today when the EU ban of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 was lifted. I expected the ban to be lifted anyway after Apple was caught photoshopping the photo of the Galaxy Tab that it submitted. However, as it turned out, the lifting of the ban is not related to that.

When the German court granted Apple the preliminary injunction on 10th August, they granted Apple the injunction throughout the entire EU except the Netherlands. However, there is a confusion about the authority of the German court that granted the injunction - it is not even sure if they have the authority to ban the tablet throughout the EU. Samsung argues that although they can ban Samsung Germany from selling the product in the EU, the German court have no authority to ban Samsung Korea from selling the tablet in other countries of the EU.

Samsung's argument was accepted and the ban of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in EU has been lifted except in Germany - it still remains banned in Germany. The lifting of the ban has nothing to with the photoshopping that Apple did.

Meanwhile the August 25th hearing is still on and we will get more details about the issue. The Netherlands hearing is on September 15th.

[via: Webwereld]