A Tiring Battle
In light of technology and brotherhood Apple has decided to drop all charges made against Samsung. Did you really fall for that one? Believing that would be a fantasy world we are living in. Actually, not only is it un-true, Apple has now decided to take the allegations they’ve made against Samsung a few steps further. Despite Samsung winning the battle in December, which allowed them to proceed with the intent to sell its Galaxy Tab 10.1, Apple has decided to try to overturn the ruling in appeals court. Making the tablet sandbox now filled with kids throwing sand at each other.
What’s all the trouble? Patents, which Apple seems to be having a lot of trouble with these days. This one is particularly on design. Apple says that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 to closely mimics its own iPad 2. The question I ask myself is, how many designs are there for a tablet? There is going to be overlap somewhere, Samsung was just unfortunate enough to overlap the media giant Apple.
Banned and Barred
Apple has decided, with its overturn, it’s either go big or go home. So in light of that, Apple has requested that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 be banned from being sold in the U.S, even before the case closes. What grounds do they have for taking such a large bite out of Samsung? Here is what they had to say, “Each day that Samsung continues to sell its infringing Tab 10.1 causes additional harm to Apple through design dilution, lost sales, lost market share, and lost future sales of tag-along products.”
Samsung is not keeping quiet on this matter either; they are prepared and ready to defend their technology. Here is what they had to say “Samsung will continue to actively defend and protect our intellectual property to ensure our continued innovation and growth in the mobile communication business. We will continue to serve our customers, and sales of Samsung products will proceed as usual.”
Calm Before the Storm?
With an upcoming court battle, Apple and Samsung were ordered to meet in San Francisco to see if a compromise was possible. But after a long day both left the building with little to say to the world. The little that was said was said by Samsung: “we’re unable to provide any details of the meeting.” And, as usual, Apple declined for any immediate comments. Since neither left the building with cries of victory, it is safe to assume that the peace pipe hadn’t been passed and a settlement hadn’t been made.
If anything came of this meeting, it was fuel for the fire. Just days after the meeting between Samsung and Apple, Samsung accused Apple of concealing evidence. To be more specific they claim: “Apple withheld 283 relevant deposition transcripts (totaling more than 34,000 pages of testimony) throughout the discovery period, and indeed for six weeks thereafter, preventing Samsung from using these materials during discovery, in expert reports, and in dispositive briefing.”
The story goes, Apple had turned in only 15 documents between December and March, but by April, all 283 had shown up. Alas, this was not good enough for Samsung as they said it was “too little, too late” and asked the courts that Apple be banned on using any information contained in said documents and to award any damages found. But in the this all-to-good-game of “tag your it” Apple turned around once again and accused Samsung with the failure to provide the source code for nine of its functions that were found in the Galaxy Tab 10.1
The Final Battle: Who Likes Apple Sauce?
Again, fantasy land if you think Samsung will squash Apple, or that they’ll ever be friends. We’ll know more soon though, as the showdown between Samsung and Apple is set to begin June 7th. But wherever the verdict lies, will it truly be the end? I would have to say no, in the past Apple and Samsung have brought over 30 lawsuits against each other. In fact, courts have ordered that they reduce the extreme allegations made against each other.
Samsung, no matter the verdict, is sure to have a back-up plan. How do I know? Well this isn’t the first time that Apple and Samsung have gone head to head and lost over the Galaxy Tab 10.1. In Germany the Galaxy tab 10.1 was banned from being sold. So what did Samsung do? Simply give their Galaxy Tab a few tweaks to side step all of the patent issues with Apple, and TaDa! The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N was born.
While Samsung and Apple go back and forth, we just get to sit back and watch the action, but will the hard feelings ever be squashed between the two? I guess we will just have to wait and see.
