Apple gains some traction in legal tussle with Samsung

Apple has scored points over Samsung in the ding-dong legal war which is ongoing worldwide between the two companies.

However, the latest judgements haven’t been totally bleak decisions from Samsung’s point of view.

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab has already been blocked in Germany, and Apple’s latest legal front opened up in Australia has also proved successful.

Details of the Australian judgement, which banned the Galaxy Tab down under, have just been published.

Justice Annabelle Bennett concluded that: “Apple has established a prima facie case for an entitlement to relief on the Heuristics Patent.”

She noted that: “Even though Samsung has established a prima facie case for the invalidity of the Touch Screen Patent, Apple has also established a prima facie case for an entitlement to relief on the Touch Screen Patent.”

And she judged the “balance of convenience” was in Apple’s favour and on these grounds moved to restrain the launch of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia.

A final ruling will apparently be made in early 2012, but that’ll leave Samsung bereft of Christmas sales in Australia, which is obviously going to sting.

Another judgement has also been made in the US which further muddies the water in the battle.

As Reuters reports, while District Judge Lucy Koh ruled that Samsung had indeed infringed Apple’s tablet patents, crucially she also stated that Apple might not be able to establish the validity of its patents.

So where does that leave us? With a number of judges across the globe who currently have splinters up their backsides, although the overall tilt of the judgements still remains in favour of Apple.

Samsung is also under fire on the smartphone front, and is set to tweak its Galaxy S handset to avoid being hit with the ban hammer in Europe.