Australian court hands another patent victory to Apple Inc.


Samsung Electronics said Thursday that it will proceed with immediate legal options after an Australian court slapped a temporary ban on its Galaxy Tab 10.1, handing another victory to its rival Apple in their global patent war.

“We express our regrets on the court’s decision and we will consider taking forward all possible actions, including legal options, for our products to be delivered without any difficulties,” said a Samsung official.

Another Samsung spokesman said the legal options point to filing a lawsuit that intends to nullify the court’s decision.

“We’re most likely to win the case if it moves further into filing a lawsuit that deals with more in-depth technical aspects (of products),” the official said.

The official also said that the temporary sales ban was only on liquid-crystal display products, indicating that it does not apply to Samsung’s flagship AMOLED items.

The Australian court deferred unveiling the specific reason for the temporary sales ban until Friday, however, the dispute was reportedly centered on touch-screen technology, such as the “heuristic” processes and the multi-touch technology.

The “heuristic” processes analyze the touch motions of the users to figure out their intentions without them flipping the screen, while multi-touch technology enables people to either enlarge or shrink the screens by touching the mobile device screen with two or more fingers.

Although Samsung said the impact of the sales ban in the Australian market will not hit them massively, the firm is likely to miss the Christmas season there.

Last month, a German court also turned against Samsung, upholding the temporary sales ban it issued on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 on Aug. 9.

There are also ongoing lawsuits in countries including South Korea, Japan, the U.K., Italy and France

Relations between Samsung Electronics and Apple ― despite being heavily interdependent for parts and related infrastructure ― started to sour recently over a protracted patent lawsuit.

The suits were prompted by the California-based company that accused Samsung of ripping off its designs, naming the firm a “copycat.”

Earlier in April, Samsung started taking a firm stance against Apple, which is one of its biggest clients, filing countersuits against the firm in a number of nations.

Most recently, Samsung filed for a sales ban at courts in France and Italy on Apple’s latest mobile phone iPhone 4S, claiming the U.S. firm violated its patents on wireless technologies.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)