In something which almost resembles playground bickering, Apple has hit out at Samsung and says that they are being unfair. This of course has gone to show that even the largest corporations in the world can act a little bit childish if they want to.
Unless you have been asleep for a very long time, you are probably more than aware of the ‘epic’ battle that has been fought between Apple and Samsung all 
over the world. It finally culminated in California two weeks ago when a jury supported Apple’s claim that its patents had been infringed. This is going to result in $1.05 billion being paid from Samsung to Apple due to lost profits, although this is subject to appeal.
The latest bickering results to a ban on the Galaxy 10.1 Tab. In June, the tablet was banned from sale in the United States pending an outcome of the trial. If it was deemed not to have violated the design of the Apple iPad then it could be put back on sale. Since it wasn’t, Samsung have now applied to have this ban lifted through the courts. This is what Apple are calling unfair.
The district judge in charge of the case, Lucy Koh has slated the hearing for Apple’s request for the ban of eight Samsung devices for December 6th 2012. The ban for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be looked into on the 20th September 2012. Apple is certainly making their views known about this. They claim that it is unfair that Samsung are being addressed before Apple (childish right?). They are asking the judge to reschedule, which would result in both of the cases being held in parallel.
Apple said “Apple’s request for injunctive relief is, if anything, more urgent than Samsung’s attempt to dissolve the injunction, and should not be resolved on a slower schedule than Samsung’s motion”
On 6th of December, Apple will be seeking the ban of eight smartphone models as well as well one tablet computer. These combined were judged to have infringed seven of eight patents by a jury in California. Seven of these products are from the Samsung Galaxy range, which could put a real dampener on the chances of Samsung succeeding with their American products.
When the sales ban was won in June, the South Korean Company said that it wouldn’t affect their business. Apple is now seeking to make this ban permanent, in addition to placing a further ban on the cellular version of the product, something which wasn’t covered by the original ban.
The key thing to remember here is that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 Ban was preliminary put in place and could only be lifted if design patents had not been breached. Whilst patents were breached with regards to the tab, they were only design patents, and therefore Samsung are arguing the ban should be lifted. Apple are arguing that this isn’t the case and the ban should remain in place, which of course is going to invoke a further battle in court at some point this year. Samsung argued the following:
“Apple seeks to disrupt the court’s carefully crafted orders for post-trial motions by delaying consideration of Samsung’s motion to dissolve the Galaxy Tab 10.1 preliminary injunction and placing it on the same schedule as Apple’s motion for a permanent injunction”
Samsung have asked Lucy Koh to suspend enforcement of the verdict until the sales ban has been lifted and an appeal has been lodged. Whilst Samsung has yet to lodge an appeal, they have 14 days after the end of the trial to do so. The appeal is expected to come any day now.
Something inside is telling me that I want this case to be over pretty soon, although that seems highly unlikely. I honestly cannot see how the outcome of any of these situations will benefit anybody. Sure, the market may head towards a more ‘innovative’ take on tablets, but the fact that one company can have so much control over the industry doesn’t sit very well with me.
You can expect an even longer court case next year when the appeal is held. I honestly don’t see this calming down for a couple of years yet.
