Samsung was dealt a minor blow in Germany today where the Higher Regional Court in Dusseldorf upheld an injunction on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 imposed by a lower court based on the violation of a German anti-competition statute. The court yesterday also ruled that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 violates German law as well. One of the first to report on the ruling was FOSS Patents.
Judge Joahnna Brueckner-Hoffman in September had ruled that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the iPad were fundamentally similar and subsequently banned sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany. Following this ruling, however, Samsung has stated that the decision will severely limit choices for consumers in Germany since the Galaxy Tab is one of the few tablets giving any real competition to the iPad. Samsung immediately filed an appeal after the decision to the Higher Regional Court. The court arrived at the same conclusion today though the reasons stated by the Higher Court were different. The Higher Regional Court has stated competition as the primary concern whereas the lower court had based its ruling on patent infringement.
Buy the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 starting at $431.
The European Commission of the European Union has also announced today that it will be launching an official investigation as to whether Samsung has violated any wireless standards agreements with Apple. In a statement today, the EC said that they will look into whether Samsung has failed to honor the irrevocable commitment made in 1998 with the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) allowing the licensing of standard essential patents with regard to European mobile telephony standards according to the FRAND (Fair, Reasonable and Non Discriminatory) terms. The statement also said that the investigation will examine if such behavior amounts to a dominant position banned by the Treaty on Function of EU (TFEU), Article 102.
Though the EC was not clear on whether it will be giving a final ruling, the past has shown that formal investigations of the EC take years, so it could be a while before these investigations actually affect Samsung. Samsung is also not too concerned about getting the Galaxy Tab 10.1 to the store shelves in Germany as they have managed to release a revised version of the tablet called the Galaxy Tab 10.1N which does not violate any Apple patents. Buy the Samsung Galaxy Tab.
