Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Banned In the United States

A federal court in California has banned the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in America while it decides on Apple’s patent infringement lawsuit against its technology competitor. The decision, however, will not apply on the Galaxy Tab 2, the latest edition of the tablet.

According to Apple, Samsung deliberately copied its iPad design for the Galaxy Tab range.

The top executives of both the companies held a number of table talks regarding the issue but they have been unable to find a way through the wider patent dispute, which has also resulted in legal battles in over a dozen countries since the past couple of years.

In an order on Tuesday, the U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh granted Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction which will stop the Korean based company from selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the United States.

She said: “Although Samsung has a right to compete, it does not have a right to compete unfairly by flooding the market with infringing products.”

“While Samsung will certainly suffer lost sales from the issuance of an injunction, the hardship to Apple of having to directly compete with Samsung’s infringing products outweighs Samsung’s harm in light of the previous findings by the Court.”

Earlier in the month, a judge rejected Apple’s appeal for a ban of its biggest rival in Smartphone market while saying that the decision would be out of her jurisdiction.

And because of this reason, Apple’s case against Samsung was still in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, awaiting a mandate.

However, the court has now directed Judge Koh to impose a ban while the case progresses.

Samsung said in a statement that it “will take necessary legal steps” to defend itself, and insisted that the decision was unlikely to have a major impact on its business.