Samsung has bagged itself another courtroom win over Apple after the High Court of England & Wales ruled that three of the Korean company’s Galaxy Tab models were “different” from Apple’s iPad products.
Eager to share the ruling, Samsung issued a full statement to Pocket-lint, detailing how the designs of the Galaxy Tab 10.1, the Galaxy Tab 8.9, and the Galaxy Tab 7 were original enough not to be confused with the iPad. The initial case centered on an arguement by Apple that they shared ‘slightly rounded corners,’ ‘a flat transparent surface without any ornamentation,’ and ‘a thin profile.’
The High Court dismissed Apple’s arguments in emphatic fashion, citing around 50 examples of prior art that demonstrated the familiar tablet design from before 2004. Some of the products include the now famous Knight Ridder tablet concept (from as far back as 1994) and HP’s TC1000 (made in 2003).
The court also sided with Samsung’s argument that its Galaxy Tab devices could be differentiated from the iPad using the naked eye. In this respect, the court noted differences in the “front surface design and in the thinness of the side profile” and “found the most vivid differences in the rear surface design.”
In short, the front, sides and back of Samsung’s Galaxy Tabs sufficiently differed from Apple’s iPad as to not confuse consumers.
Samsung said: “Apple’s excessive legal claims based on such a generic design right can harm not only the industry’s innovation as a whole, but also unduly limit consumer choice.”
The Korean device maker is still fighting lawsuits all over the world but recently saw a ban on its Galaxy Nexus smartphone overturned in the US, allowing Google to resume sales of the device on its Google Play Store.
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