Apple's Claim in Germany Against Samsung's 2nd Tab, the Galaxy Tab 10.1N, is Rejected

[dgstorm]

Apple's complaints against the redesigned Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N were rejected by the judge in a German court today. Previously, Apple won an injunction barring Samsung from selling the original Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany, but Samsung came back with a slightly redesigned look. That didn't satisfy Apple's lawyers so they filed a second lawsuit to block it as well; however, this new version apparently was enough to satisfy the German courts. Judge Johanna Brueckner-Hofmann told the court today,

“According to the court’s assessment, the defendant has moved away sufficiently from the legally protected design.”

A final ruling from the court is expected to handed down on February 9th on the issue. There was a bit of humor to go along with this story. Apparently, when Apple decided to drag Samsung back into court a second time, the court forced Apple to make detailed suggestions to Samsung in order to differentiate the two tablets. According to a quote from SlashGear, this was Apple's "suggestions":

When it comes to smartphones, Apple suggests Samsung to design devices that do not have a front surface that is black, do not have a shape that is rectangular or do not have rounded corners, and that the front surface should have substantial adornment as opposed to a sleek clean surface.

Tablets should also not be rectangular or not have rounded corners. They should have thick frames with a front surface that doesn’t lie entirely flat. Also, the profiles should not be thin and the interface should have a cluttered appearance.

So, Apple wants Samsung to make fat, wide, ugly, cluttered products, and that will be okay then. Hmmm... <sniff, sniff> What's that smell? Something stinks...

Source: SlashGear
Image Source: LatestDigitals