• MOST READ

• LATEST NEWS

Samsung has modified its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the hope of getting round an injunction in Germany which could wreck the product's chances during the holiday season in that country.

The updated product, called Galaxy Tab 10.1n, comes with a metal band which extends around the device and bleeds into the front. The preliminary injunction was won by Apple, pending final court judgements, largely on the basis of design patents rather than fundamental IPR.

Patent analyst Florian Mueller said on his Patents blog that he thinks the redesigned slate would have been created by the Samsung design team, with input from the firm's German lawyers. The ball will now be in Apple's court, and the iPad maker will have to decide whether to seek another injunction against this new model.

Meanwhile, the increasingly litigious nature of the mobile market has prompted the European Commission's antitrust unit to take an interest in how device makers, and specifically Samsung and Apple, are using their IPR. Unusually, the preliminary probe was launched on the EC's "own initiative" and not in response to a complaint by a vendor. The antitrust unit chief, Per Hellstroem, said the investigation was trying to determine the underlying facts about patent use, and whether there is cause for a further enquiry. "There's no formal complaint," he told an IBC Legal conference. "When we see that there are issues that may involve competition issues we have the power to send requests for information to various parties."

Apple had tried to spin the story to suggest that the EC probe was directed entirely at Samsung and its "egregious" misuse of patents. But Hellstroem said his office was "completely open minded" on the use of patents and would intervene in commercial disputes "only in exceptional circumstances".

One of the broad IPR issues which has been raised by the 30 or so legal actions these two vendors have brought against one another round the world is how far essential wireless patents can be exploited for royalties and damages, and how far they are automatically covered by 3GPP and international rules that require Frand (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) licensing of patents which are essential to standards. Apple is far weaker than Samsung in essential wireless IPR, but has argued that some of these patents are included by default in customer deals it has with firms like Qualcomm.

Related Stories

COMMENTS

No comments yet. Be the first to add a comment!

Carrier Broadband Performance: Africa & Middle East
Carriers are using mobile broadband as their weapon of choice in the fight against the commoditization of voice and falling ARPU. This...

Voice over LTE: Market Analysis and Forecasts
VoLTE offer unique advantages in lowering a carrier's voice infrastructure economics and promises to improve voice quality, device...