Date: December 1, 2011
Source: Chosun

BanSamsung Electronics scored its first legal victory in a global patent war with Apple on Wednesday when an Australian appeals court overturned a sales ban for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet PC.

Apple says it will appeal to the Australian High Court in Canberra and applied for another injunction against Samsung products in a German court.

An Australian district court on Oct. 13 banned sale or marketing of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 by agreeing that Samsung violated Apple's patent for the "multi-touch" sensing technology.

But all three appeals court justices agreed with Samsung that it would suffer a huge loss if the sale of the Galaxy Tab is banned regardless whether the patent was infringed.

Justice Lindsay Foster said Samsung would take a severe blow if the sale of a tablet PC, whose product lifecycle is only about a year, is banned before the High Court reaches its decision, while Apple failed to prove that it would suffer serious damage if the sales ban was lifted.

The decision comes into force at 4 p.m. on Friday, allowing Samsung to put out the product for the crucial Christmas season.

The ruling is a boost for Samsung, which has also applied for an injunction against Apple's iPhone and iPad2 in Australia.

Apple has lost several patent suits this month against NT-K, a small Spanish tablet PC maker, and Motorola.