Samsung has lost its appeal of an injunction banning the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany. The Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court upheld a lower court’s ban on sales of the device. Interestingly, though, the higher court decided to uphold the ban because of what it deemed unfair business practices by Samsung, rather than on the grounds of the copyright infringemment claim by Apple. Though the original injunction covered much of Europe, it was later restricted to only Germany.
The court’s decision to uphold this ban is the latest in a string of rulings that have not favored the Korean electronics giant. German courts have thrown out two separate suits Samsung has filed against Apple for patent infringement in as many weeks. Samsung and Apple have been waging a worldwide legal battle since last spring over Samsung’s alleged copying of Apple’s design elements. The conflict started with the Samsung Galaxy line of phones, and came to a head with the launch of the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Apple filed suit in the US to block sales of the device, Samsung quickly countersued in the US and elsewhere in a legal battle that now spans ten countries and around twenty individual suits. Injunctions on the sale of the are or have been in place in several countries, including the one still in effect in Germany, and another in Australia that was lifted just in time for the 2011 Christmas season.