To the surprise of pretty much no-one, Samsung started the process of appealing the Australian injunction against sales of their Galaxy Tab product. Essentially, their defense of “I’m rubber, your glue” wasn’t compelling enough to convince Australian courts to stay an injunction against sales based on their alleged violation of patent and garden variety steal-it-ism.
The problem stems from alleged intellectual property violations by Samsung where the look and feel of the iPad has been pilfered to create the Galaxy. Apple’s claims of wrongdoing have gotten enough traction to result in several sales injunctions, including Australia. Samsung’s lawyer Neil Young (not that Neil Young) says Justice Annabelle Bennet “made errors of law in her approach,” immediately after his strenuous assertion that the day she passed down the ruling was “Opposite Day” and was surprised nobody else knew that.
The reason Samsung is all cranked up over this (aside from the obvious reasons) is because a successful appeal could free up sales in Australia before the holiday season gets rolling. Pundits often comment that if they can’t get this tablet on the Aussie market in time for this Christmas, it won’t matter whether it’s lifted later as the lost sales will be too substantial to make it worth the trouble. Justice Lindsay Foster, who will preside over the appeal, has not set a date yet, but hopes to get things rolling for November 21.
Anyone who has been waiting to make jokes about Samsung getting coal in their stocking for being naughty this year, now’s your chance. There may also be some good wisecracks to be had from an Australian justice named “Foster”. Go nuts.
