Australian court extends Galaxy Tab ban; Unlikely to reach Christmas markets
An Australian court on Friday extended a sales injunction of Samsung's Galaxy Tablet 10.1, further delaying the Korean firm's bid to sell the tablet in the run up to the Christmas holiday.
Samsung and Apple continue to lock horns over patents, which has now spread to over 10 jurisdictions.
Earlier this week, an appeals court unanimously overturned a sales ban that prevented Samsung from marketing or selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1; thought to be one of the key rival to Apple's iPad in the the tablet market.
The ban was set to expire at 4 p.m. (local time) on Friday, but will now continue until December 9th -- a week from now -- allowing the High Court to hear Apple's further appeal agains the court decision, ZDNet Australia reports.
The High Court, the final court of appeal in Australia, will decide if Apple has the right to challenge the judgement of the release of the sales ban.
Next Friday's hearing will only consider whether or not the High Court will hear the proposed appeal by Apple, as opposed to hearing the actual appeal itself.
"Samsung believes Apple has no basis for its application for leave to appeal and will vigorously oppose this to the High Court", the Korean giant said in a statement.
Allowing the long-awaited tablet to go on sale, Samsung had planned a "high-velocity" launch to maximise sales in the run-up to the Christmas sales period. Some networks had already claimed that they were "ready" for the device.
One of the most popular shopping times runs between December 1st and December 5th, Even a day shaved off this timeframe would cost the company tens of thousands, if not millions in revenue.
While Samsung is the world's most popular smartphone maker, with one in four U.S. smartphone users owning one, it falls to second place behind Apple in the tablet marketshare.
Read more on this story at ZDNet Australia.
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