Samsung Seeks to Lift German Sales Ban, Sues Apple in Australia
September 17, 2011, 4:21 AM EDTStory Tools
By Susan Decker and Jun Yang
Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Samsung Electronics Co. filed an appeal against a German court’s ban on sales of its Galaxy tablet computers, and accused Apple Inc. of patent infringement in Australia, deepening disputes between the companies over smartphone technology.
The company filed the appeal yesterday against a court ruling won by Apple to block Galaxy Tab sales in Germany, James Chung, a Seoul-based spokesman for Samsung, said by phone today. The South Korean company also filed yesterday a cross claim with the Federal Court of Australia alleging Apple’s iPhone and iPad infringe seven patents related to wireless communications standards, it said in an e-mail.
Apple, based in Cupertino, California, and Samsung have been embroiled in a global battle over market share for both phones and tablet computers. Apple has accused Samsung of “slavishly” copying the iPad and iPhone and has had success in curtailing Galaxy sales in Australia and Germany. There are also lawsuits pending in the U.S. and Asia.
“Samsung has a proud history of innovation in the mobile industry,” the Suwon, South Korea-based company said after filing the Australian suit. “It has invested continuously in R&D, design and technology to produce our innovative and cutting-edge mobile devices.”
Samsung is also trying to invalidate and revoke Apple patents that have been asserted against Samsung’s Galaxy phones and tablets in Australia.
The appeal filed with a Dusseldorf court follows a Sept. 9 ruling upholding the temporary nationwide sales ban on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 issued a month earlier.
Apple has also won an injunction in Germany against the Galaxy Tab 7.7, the latest version with a smaller screen than the Tab 10.1 and the iPad, forcing Samsung to pull the product out of the IFA consumer-electronics show in Berlin earlier this month.
Steve Park, a Seoul-based spokesman for Apple, declined to comment on Samsung’s filings in Australia and Germany.
--With assistance from Joe Schneider in Sydney, Karin Matussek in Berlin. Editors: Matthew Oakley, Jim McDonald
To contact the reporter on this story: Susan Decker in Washington at sdecker1@bloomberg.net. Jun Yang in Seoul at jyang180@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Allan Holmes at aholmes25@bloomberg.net
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