Samsung Upgrades Smartphones to Avoid Apple Sales Ban in Europe
In order to avoid the sales ban brought on by rival company Apple, Samsung Electronics Co. has opted to upgrade its current model of "Galaxy" smartphones in Europe.
The smartphones that will see these upgrades are the Samsung "Galaxy S", "Galaxy S II", and "Ace." These models will be available once more in all European markets. No word yet on what specific upgrades will come to the smartphones and when they will launch.
James Chung, a spokesperson for Samsung, told Reuters, "We've fixed the technological problem and upgraded products to address the issue. They will be shortly available for sale."
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Samsung has told its U.K. consumers that there will be "no disruption of availability of our Galaxy smartphones to Dutch consumers."
The upgrades are meant to get around temporary sales bans on earlier versions of products that violated an Apple patent. Samsung and Apple have been battling in 20 separate court cases in 10 different countries. Apple tried to block the sales of Samsung's "Galaxy" line of smartphones and tablets in the Netherlands.
Apple stated that Samsung stole 10 of its patent rights, including Apple's claim of "slavish style copying."
The Apple patent reportedly allows for a certain operation of scrolling or browsing through photos in some Samsung smartphones.
A Dutch court ruled in August that Samsung had breached only one of Apple's patents. They also imposed a sales injunction on the three Samsung smartphone models and dismissed all other claims, including model rights.
The court imposed a sales injunction on the affected products in some European countries and offered a grace period until Oct. 14 to address the infringement lawsuit between Samsung and Apple.
Samsung is still awaiting a court ruling in Australia on Thursday over Apple's request to temporarily ban sales of Samsung's "Galaxy Tab 10.1" tablet in the country.
Samsung should be worried about this move for a ban, as it could affect the pre-Christmas sales of the device.
