Samsung versus Apple
November 17, 2011
Samsung has agreed to alter the design of its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet for the German market, the company said on Thursday.
In September, a German court banned the sale and marketing of Samsung's Tab 10.1 tablet in Germany because it too closely resembles Apple's iPad 2.
"We modified the model to reflect Apple's claims," a spokesman told the Reuters news agency.
The two electronics giants are involved in a series of legal disputes in countries around the world over allegations that each has copied the other's technology.
In Germany, Apple has argued that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 copied the community design of the iPad. Community design is a European Union legal right which protects the look and feel of products from imitation. Apple registered its design features in the EU in 2004.
Minor modifications
The new Galaxy Tab 10.1N, based on the existing Galaxy Tab 10.1, has a slightly altered metal frame, or bezel, and a new location for the speakers.
Samsung has said that the new Galaxy Tab 10.1N could go on sale as early as this week.
Florian Müller, a German blogger and legal consultant, who closely follows intellectual property disputes, wrote yesterday that he could not definitively say if this new modification will put Samsung in the clear.
"That's up for the courts to decide," he wrote on Wednesday. "But without a doubt, Samsung has upped the ante for Apple and its lawyers in case they wish to request a new injunction or allege that this constitutes an infringement of the existing one."
Author: Cyrus Farivar (AFP, Reuters)
Editor: John Blau