Dutch Court Issues Europe-wide Ban on Galaxy S, S2

A court in the Netherlands has issued a Europe-wide preliminary injunction against several Samsung smartphones as part of an ongoing patent lawsuit between Apple and Samsung.
A Dutch Court in the Hague has issued a Europe-wide preliminary injunction against Samsung’s Galaxy S, Galaxy S II and Ace smartphones. The court is said to have rejected the majority of Apple’s claims in the company’s patent infringement suit against Samsung. However, the judge found that Samsung did infringe upon an Apple patent related to swiping gestures to view photos in a gallery application and, according to FOSS Patents, has issued a ban that will apply in any country where that patent is valid.
Though Apple’s patent was initially designated to 30 member countries of the European Patent Organization, FOSS Patents reports that Apple failed to “make the administrative efforts and pick up the related costs” to ensure it was turned into a valid patent across all of Europe.
“Those countries in which Apple didn’t successfully pursue and complete a local registration include Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Spain,” FOSS wrote. “Local registrations have apparently succeeded in Germany, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK — as well as the Netherlands, obviously.”
As a result, the ban will only cover countries in which Apple completed local registrations. The ban is set to come into play on October 13 but will not have any bearing on the Galaxy Tab 10.1, which was temporarily banned earlier this month as a result of a ruling from German courts. FOSS reports that Samsung will attempt to alter its software so it can avoid infringement of the patent in question before the October 13 ban becomes active.










