A court in Australia lifted a ban on the sales of its tablet PC–the Galaxy. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) which makes competitor iPad lost the action.
Reuters reports that
Apple and Samsung have been embroiled in some 30 legal cases in 10 countries since April, as they jostle for the top spot in the booming smartphone and tablet markets.
The Australian High Court ruling allows Samsung to offer the device to Australian shoppers for the final weeks of the key Christmas shopping season and came a week after a U.S. court denied Apple’s plea to ban Galaxy phones and tablets in the country.
The news is another example of how tech companies have engaged in patent wars instead of just competition in the consumer markets. There are a large number of lawsuits pending over which company owns which patent to which technology. The legal systems may take years to sort this out. In the meantime, many firms will try to stop the sales of rival products–country by country