An existing sales ban on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 in Germany has been extended to the entire European Union by a German court.
The 7.7-inch slate is the latest casualty in the ongoing patent wrangle between Apple and Samsung. The tablet is no stranger to this dispute--it was officially unveiled at IFA in Berlin last year, but was almost immediately yanked from the show floor after a sales injunction. Samsung has issued a statement saying that it was "disappointed with the court's ruling" and that it "will continue...to protect our intellectual property rights and defend against Apple's claims to ensure our products remain available to consumers throughout the European Union".
The 7.7-inch slate is the latest casualty in the ongoing patent wrangle between Apple and Samsung. The tablet is no stranger to this dispute--it was officially unveiled at IFA in Berlin last year, but was almost immediately yanked from the show floor after a sales injunction. Samsung has issued a statement saying that it was "disappointed with the court's ruling" and that it "will continue...to protect our intellectual property rights and defend against Apple's claims to ensure our products remain available to consumers throughout the European Union".
Beyond the legal repercussions, we doubt that the sales ban would have any significant impact on Samsung. While we liked the Tab 7.7, the pricey tablet faces stiff competition from Samsung's more affordable Tab 2 7.0, not to mention newer rivals such as the Nexus 7.
It's not all bad news for the Korean chaebol--the Galaxy Tab 10.1N, which was specially designed to avoid the ban on the Galaxy Tab 10.1, was cleared for sale. The Dusseldorf court ruled that the design changes on the 10.1N were significant enough to skirt the injunction.
The German court ruling comes a week after Samsung scored a rare win in the UK, which decided that its Galaxy Tab slates, which includes the Tab 7.7, Tab 8.9 and Tab 10.1, did not copy Apple's iPad.
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