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Samsung and HTC, embattled by litigation, both scored some points in key centres of patent lawsuits this week. Samsung has got Apple's injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia reversed, and a German court has refused to ban HTC's smartphones.

In Australia, a federal appeals court voted unanimously to overrule a decision by a lower court judge to grant Apple's request for a ban on the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Apple must file an emergency request with the country's top court to extend the injunction past Friday. Although Australia is a relatively small device market, it has ruled early on several Apple-Samsung disputes and so is seen as something of a testing ground for fights in other territories.

"The ruling clearly affirms that Apple's legal claims lack merit," said Nam Ki Yung, a spokesman for Samsung. He told Bloomberg that the firm would make an announcement on the tablet's availability "shortly".

Apple was sticking to its claims that the Tab "slavishly" copies the design of the iPad 2 and infringes design patents. In a statement, it said: "It's no coincidence that Samsung's latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad. This kind of blatant copying is wrong and, as we've said many times before, we need to protect Apple's intellectual property when companies steal our ideas."

Apple has succeeded in keeping the rival product out of buyers' hands since the temporary injunction was granted on October 13, in advance of patent lawsuit decisions to be made next year. The appeal judges criticized the injunction, particularly because it cited Samsung's refusal to accept an early patent trial. "We cannot see how Samsung's conduct in refusing the offer of an early trial could properly be weighed," the three-judge panel said. "We consider that her honor erred in principle by taking into account that irrelevant consideration."

Meanwhile, in Germany, HTC says it does not face a ban on sales of its products, despite an adverse ruling in a lawsuit brought by major IPR owner IPCom. A spokeswoman told Telecoms Europe that HTC would suffer no ill effects from its decision to withdraw its appeal against an injunction granted to IPCom.

HTC added that it withdrew the appeal because Germany's Federal Patent Court "had previously held the relevant claim of the patent to be invalid", and "IPCom's original injunction covered only one HTC handset, which is now no longer sold in Germany." It claims to have found a workaround for the UMTS-related patent in newer devices. IPCom is

threatening to issue fines until a block on shipments is implemented, said recent media reports.

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