‘Tab Wars’ Update – German Court Winds Back Samsung Injunction

In our earlier article, ‘Tab Wars’ Update – Apple Claims a Win in Europe, we wrote that we were:

…a little sceptical of the Bloomberg report, in part because it is unclear to us that a German court necessarily has the power to issue – or to enforce – an injunction covering the entire EU, although this may depend upon the basis for the injunction.

Now it seems that the Dusseldorf District Court has itself had second thoughts about this issue.

The FOSS Patents blog is now reporting that the District Court has temporarily suspended enforcement of the injunction barring distribution of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 in all countries of the EU, with the exception of Germany.  This suspension is a result of concerns that the German court may lack the necessary jurisdiction to issue an injunction that is enforceable against a Korean company in countries other than German.

The injunction remains in force in Germany, because the court is confident of its jurisdiction over activities that take place within Germany, and/or which involve a German resident company (i.e. Samsung’s German subsidiary).

Nothing should be read into the fact that this suspension is temporary.  The preliminary injunction is itself temporary, pending a further hearing of Apple’s claims (at which, this time, Samsung will be represented) set down for 25 August 2011.

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Before You Go…

Thank you for reading this article to the end – I hope you enjoyed it, and found it useful.  Almost every article I post here takes a few hours of my time to research and write, and I have never felt the need to ask for anything in return.

But now – for the first, and perhaps only, time – I am asking for a favour.  If you are a patent attorney, examiner, or other professional who is experienced in reading and interpreting patent claims, I could really use your help with my PhD research.  My project involves applying artificial intelligence to analyse patent claim scope systematically, with the goal of better understanding how different legal and regulatory choices influence the boundaries of patent protection.  But I need data to train my models, and that is where you can potentially assist me.  If every qualified person who reads this request could spare just a couple of hours over the next few weeks, I could gather all the data I need.

The task itself is straightforward and web-based – I am asking participants to compare pairs of patent claims and evaluate their relative scope, using an online application that I have designed and implemented over the past few months.  No special knowledge is required beyond the ability to read and understand patent claims in technical fields with which you are familiar.  You might even find it to be fun!

There is more information on the project website, at claimscopeproject.net.  In particular, you can read:

1. a detailed description of the study, its goals and benefits; and
2. instructions for the use of the online claim comparison application.

Thank you for considering this request!

Mark Summerfield

Tags: Apple-v-Samsung, Europe, Interlocutory injunction, Litigation, News, Smartphone wars