In resumption of the battle between the two biggest Smartphone makers Samsung (LSE:SMSD) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), a U.K. judge Colin Birss has issued a judgment today. The judgment is made against Apple Inc. in an intellectual property case, where Apple said that Galaxy tablet PC wasn’t “cool” enough and its design was very similar to the design of iPad. AppleInc. also has found 50 different recognizable traits in Galaxy Tab. Judge Birss says: “The Galaxy tablets do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design … They are not as cool”, so there is no way that the consumers may take iPad for Samsung’s tablet.
The UK judge has dismissed Apple’s arguments with clear explanations and has given about 50 examples for the period of 2004 and earlier which demonstrate the similar tablet design. Some of the products include the famous Knight Ridder tablet concept (from early 1994) and HP’s TC1000 (made in 2003). The Judge has also agreed that the differences between Samsung and Apple’s tablets could be seen with the naked eye, as Samsung states.
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The restriction came into effect last week when Apple received a preliminary ruling that the South Korean firm had infringed one of its search patents.
Today’s judgment affects three models of the Samsung tablet: the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Galaxy Tab 8.9, and Galaxy Tab 7.7. According to the Judge the distinctive features of Samsung products are that they are thinner and have “unusual details” on the back. Birss gave Apple 21 days to appeal the decision.
Apple has been using patent lawsuits as a weapon against its competitors, including HTC Corp. (2498) and Samsung, to get benefits at Smartphone and Tablet Computer markets. The Cupertino based company has sought injunctions in countries including the U.S., Germany and the Netherlands seeking to ban Samsung from selling its tablets.
Earlier this month, Samsung lost a bid to put on hold a U.S. court order barring sales of its latest Galaxy model, which resulted in Google pulling it from the Google Play Store before putting it back up Saturday.
“Should Apple continue to make excessive legal claims in other countries based on such generic designs, innovation in the industry could be harmed, and consumer choice unduly limited,” Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung said in an e-mailed statement.
Samsung might have won the case but the explanation given by the Judge saying “They are not as cool”, certainly, will not help the Korean electronics giant in its foray in the Smartphone market.
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