Intellectual Property: Samsung vs. Apple

Story first appeared in Bloomberg.
Samsung Electronics Co. agreed to push back the introduction of its newest tablet computer in Australia until the end of next month, the second delay in a month in its dispute with Apple Inc. in the country.
Samsung will defer the launch of the Galaxy 10.1 tablet computer pending a hearinhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifg scheduled the week of Sept. 26. on Apple’s request for an injunction, the Suwon, South Korea-based electronics maker said in a statement. David Catterns, an attorney representing Samsung, said his client is prepared to wait until the end of September. This was also the information received by a Washington DC Intellectual Property Lawyer.
The decision comes four weeks after Samsung first agreed to hold off on the Australian debut of the product. The two companies, the world’s two biggest makers of tablet computers, are also locked in legal disputes in markets including the U.S., Germany and South Korea according to a Frankfort Intellectual Property Lawyer.
Samsung will continue to push for the release of the product in Australia to ensure that consumers have a wider selection of innovative products to choose from.
Samsung agreed at an Aug. 2 hearing to hold off on sales of the 10.1 tablet after Apple claimed the device infringed 10 of its patents, including the look and feel of the iPad.
Samsung said the claim was based on a U.S. model and the Australian version was different. The company last week provided Apple’s legal team with three samples of the 10.1 version intended to be sold in Australia, Steven Burley, an attorney representing Apple, told Federal Court Justice Annabelle Bennett yesterday.
Burley said the Australian model, which has reduced functionality, still violates at least two of Apple’s patents. Samsung’s Catterns said the Australian model has different features” and doesn’t have reduced functionality.
The lawyers agreed to two days of hearings on Apple’s request for an injunction barring the sale of the 10.1 tablet in Australia until the resolution of the dispute, which may take months. The hearings are scheduled for Sept. 26 and 29. A San Francisco Intellectual Property Lawyer said this is normal procedure.
The agreement to halt advertising and the sale of the 10.1 tablet doesn’t affect any other Samsung tablet or smartphone available in Australia, or other countries, the company said following the Aug. 2 hearing.
A German judge said on Aug. 25 that Apple’s intellectual rights are probably strong enough to ban the sales of the 10.1 tablet in that country.
In the U.S., Samsung is arguing that the design for the iPad can be traced back to the Stanley Kubrick 1969 film “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
The case is Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co. NSD1243/2011. Federal Court of Australia (Sydney).