Samsung gets preliminary Australian ban denied

Apple on Friday Sydney time was denied its appeal on the Galaxy Tab ban reversal. Samsung will be cleared to sell the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia late next week at prices of $579 AUD ($589) for a 16GB Wi-Fi version and $729 ($741) for a 3G edition. Pre-orders would start today, Samsung Australia's telecom VP Tyler McGee said.

High Court judges had claimed that Apple only just barely won the original ban, and that Samsung had been punished for not agreeing to a earlier timing. Apple was being asked to pay Samsung's court costs for the trouble defending against the ban.

As anticipated, Samsung saw the denied appeal as "fantastic." Apple, in the meantime, asserted that the reversal of the preliminary ban was "replete with error."

The return to sale doesn't exonerate Samsung, but it does shift the view to one where Samsung's existence on the market wasn't so grievous that it would permanently damage Apple's iPad business. It may ultimately hand a win to Samsung simply through timing. With a third-generation Galaxy Tab possibly coming early in 2012, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 could already be off the market by the time Australia's Federal Court reaches a decision.

Samsung's win is its second in recent memory. Earlier, it was allowed to keep selling in the US. Most of its experiences, however, have seen it lose. It just Thursday lost an iPhone 4S ban attempt in France. A ban in Germany also persists, and many believe an Italian decision next week on the iPhone 4S will clear Apple as well. [via Sydney Morning Herald]

By Electronista Staff