Samsung's Galaxy Tab & Apple's iPad Have "Recognisable Differences" Rules Court

Samsung will continue to have the right to sell their tablet series in the UK, without the fear of Apple taking them down.

By Jay Unsworth /

In yet another twist in the case of tablet monopolization, Apple have lost their latest patent case against Samsung in the UK. The UK court decided that there are 'recognisable differences' between the iPad and the Galaxy Tab, meaning that Samsung will continue to have the right to sell their tablet series in the UK, without the fear of Apple taking them down. The now-typical Apple case focused on copyright infringement of designs stolen from their iPad range, which they believe are found on all three of the Galaxy Tab range, including the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Tab 8.9. However, the High court saw differently, and in a scathing statement, Samsung reported: "The court found numerous Apple design features to lack originality, and numerous identical design features to have been visible in a wide range of earlier tablet designs from before 2004. "Equally important, the court also found distinct differences between the Samsung and Apple tablet designs, which the court claimed were apparent to the naked eye." Distinct differences including designs of the front and sides of the tablet, but most importantly, the rear surface design that are indeterminably different, of which they were called 'notable'. Without holding back, the clearly agitated company finished the statement by saying: "Samsung believes Apple's excessive legal claims based on such a generic design right can harm not only the industry's innovation as a whole, but also unduly limit consumer choice." It's evident that the technological war is continuing, the only thing that is left to be determined is whether Apple are detered in any way. My guess is not.