Dutch court bans Samsung Galaxy sales

EU

Catherine White-staff reporter

Samsung will be banned from selling three models of its Galaxy smartphones in a number of countries throughout Europe.

The ruling comes after a preliminary injunction was handed down by a court in the Netherlands after Apple filed a claim for patent infringement. The ban will occur in mid-October.

Apple claimed that Samsung had copied technology owned by Apple relating to the way photos are displayed on mobile devices.

A District Court in The Hague upheld Apple's claim concerning one specific patent - EP 2059868 - which outlines an interface for viewing and navigating photographs on a touchscreen phone.

However, Judge Brinkman rejected several other patent issues, as well as Apple's claim that Samsung had stolen many of its design ideas.

The interim injunction prohibits sale of devices by three of the company's Dutch subsidiaries to the UK, France, Germany, Finland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Sweden and Switzerland.

The ruling covers the Galaxy S, Galaxy S II and Galaxy Ace models but does not ban the sales of the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

A preliminary Europe-wide ban on the sales of Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablets was lifted last week, apart from in Germany, after an appeal by Samsung against the injunction.

Colin Fowler from law firm Rouse said, "Whereas the previous injunction Apple secured from a German court relating to the Galaxy 10.1 tablet was based on designs, here the injunction has been granted on the basis of patent infringement and relates to other Samsung products, namely the Galaxy S, SII and Ace smart phones.

"Unlike the injunction granted by the German court this one does not have immediate effect, giving Samsung some breathing space to fight back or at least to plan so as to minimise the impact, potentially by amending its software to replace those elements which have been held to infringe. An attack on the validity of Apple's patent, which relates to a photo management system, will be considered in full as the war between these two companies intensifies. The Samsung smart phones use Android and other manufacturers of Android devices will be watching the case closely."

Samsung said, "With regard to the single infringement cited in the ruling, we will take all possible measures including legal action to ensure that there is no disruption in the availability of our Galaxy smartphones to Dutch consumers."