BREAKING: Apple Inc has failed in its application to have the High Court of Australia overturn the decision of the Federal Court to allow Samsung to commence the sale of its Galaxy Tab 10.1.
Apple had sought special leave to appeal the Federal Court’s decision, but the High Court dismissed Apple’s application this morning and reportedly awarded costs to Samsung.
In the High Court today Apple’s lawyers argued that the original judge had accurately interpreted the law when banning the sale of the Galaxy Tab. They said the full bench decision to overturn the ban was “replete with error”.
One of the judges today said Apple obtained the original ban by the “skin of its teeth”, as Samsung was effectively punished for refusing to agree to an early final hearing. Apple conceded that there was a “prospect of irredeemable harm” to both Samsung and Apple in this case.
Samsung’s lawyers argued the full bench of the Federal Court was correct to overturn the ban as no “substantive analysis” of the strength of Apple’s case had occurred in the original hearing. Apple said Justice Bennett appropriately “traversed through the arguments from either side” and argued the ban should be reinstated.
The High Court today agreed with Samsung and the judges said Apple’s special leave would be “denied with costs”.
After the hearing, Samsung told Ausdroid:
As the High Court has today rejected Apple’s leave to appeal, Samsung Electronics Australia is pleased to announce the highly anticipated Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 will be available in stores in time for the Christmas shopping period from a RRP of $579 (16GB WiFi variant) and a RRP of $729 (16GB 3G variant).
Samsung Electronics Australia is pleased with today’s judgment by the High Court of Australia to deny Apple’s request to appeal the decision of the Full Court.
The Full Court of Australia decision on November 30 clearly affirmed our view that Apple’s claims lack merit and that an injunction should not have been imposed on the GALAXY Tab 10.1.
We’ll up date this post with more info once it comes to hand.
