Samsung and their Galaxy Tab have been given the green light to be sold in the Netherlands and distributed throughout the European Union. That’s the word from Florian Mueller over at FOSS Patents earlier today, who reported that Apple failed to prove to a Dutch court that the Galaxy Tab infringes upon a design patent related to Apple’s iPad.
Mueller explains that while the Galaxy Tab will continue being sold in the EU, the appeals court’s decision doesn’t lift the preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Tab that was granted to Apple back in August. That injunction, however, could be lifted as soon as next week.
In better words than I could possibly articulate, Mueller explains why this legal patent saga between Apple and Samsung has continued at an incremental pace throughout different parts of the world:
The two companies need the courts in various jurisdictions to clarify where Apple’s exclusive scope of protection ends and Samsung’s freedom to compete begins. There’s no mathematical formula based on which they could simply agree that Samsung’s products are allowed to have a degree of similarity of up to (for example) 70%. Instead, they need guidance from judges.
It’s amazing how after knowing and following this court drama for this long, only now has someone described the dispute with perfectly concise and illustrative words.