Well now, good news for Samsung and Android but probably ban news for Apple. Apparently that European Union ban on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is now only good for inside Germany, and said ban has now been lifted freeing Samsung to release the Android slate across Europe.
According to the guys over on Slash Gear by way of Foss Patents, the Dusseldorf district court hasn’t actually stated just why the ban on selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet was lifted across Europe, but Foss says its probably to do with the court not having the authority to halt Sammy from offering the device outside Germany.
Apparently there could have also been some language confusion over the words “subsidiaries “ and “establishments,” between English and German that could have initialised the injunction.
Whatever the reason, it now appears that old Sammy can actually sell the Android 3.1 Honeycomb slate in other European counties whilst those in Germany will still have to wait, and no doubt this U-turn by the German court is grinding on Apple’s teeth right now.
As of today Samsung said they will sell the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the Netherlands as previously reported, and old Sammy can now smile for a while as they roll out the Android tablet across Europe for the foreseeable future anyway.
Having said that, no doubt Apple will continue to seek injunctions against Samsung in an attempt to halt those sales at some point, but as it stands at the moment, Samsung has grabbed a little victory in this continuing battle.