An Australian Appeals Court overturned a preliminary injunction on Wednesday blocking the sale os Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the country. Apple won the ban earlier this fall as part of its patent infringement battle with Samsung.
Samsung can’t start selling its tablet in Australia until December 2 so Apple will have time to file its own appeal, according to iTnews.
Samsung’s legal team said the new ruling “clearly affirms that Apple’s legal claims lack merit.”
Court overturns Galaxy Tab ban in Australia
Apple and Samsung have been locked in a legal battle over patent infringement claims for several months. Both companies have alleged that the other’s mobile devices use patented technologies without proper licensing, and have filed lawsuits against each other in the U.S. and other countries.
A German court upheld an injunction blocking the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the country, and the company lost an appeal to overturning that ruling. Apple was also awarded a temporary injunction through a Dutch court blocking the sale of some Galaxy devices in the European Union.
Despite its own efforts to block iPhone 4S sales in Australia, Japan, France, and Italy, Samsung isn’t seeking an injunction at home in South Korea. “We concluded that we should engage in legal battles with Apple only in the global market, but not in order to gain more market share in Korea,” a Samsung executive said.
Assuming Apple isn’t able to convince the Australian courts to uphold the injunction, Samsung will be able to start selling its tablet in time for the holidays. The company hasn’t said, however, how soon it plans to get the Android-based tablets onto store shelves.
The Appeals Court ruling may put more of Apple’s case in the country in question, too. “The Full Court has interpreted a number of High Court decisions in reaching its conclusions,” said Mark Summerfield, a patent expert and senior associate at the Watermark legal firm. “Three out of four Federal Court judges who have looked at the case have found no prima facie case of infringement. The High Court would almost certainly not overturn this factual finding, so by any legal reasoning an injunction is not appropriate.”
Apple plans to appeal the ruling, but hasn’t offered an official comment.