Samsung’s Aussie Tab ban extended

If you’ve been following the story of Apple versus Samsung in Australia – one of many patent battles currently playing out across the globe – then you’ll doubtless be interested to hear about the latest development.

For those not up to speed, Apple initially secured a ban on the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Tab in the country, with a judge ruling that Apple had “established a prima facie case for an entitlement to relief on the Heuristics Patent”.

Samsung appealed against this judgement in the federal court, and against the run of the company’s luck so far, actually achieved success.

In this case, the court ruled that the initial judgement had been incorrect, and the Tab should be allowed to go on sale in Australia.

However, it wasn’t quite as clear cut as immediately loading up the vans to ship the slate out. Apple was given until the end of the week, today, to respond, and respond they have by taking the matter up to the high court.

And while the high court hasn’t made a decision, it has extended the ban on the sale of the tablet for another week.

This gives Apple more time to formulate a counter-attack on the appeal, and means the Tab won’t be on shelves next week as Samsung had hoped.

The federal court certainly came down on the side of Samsung, though, and Apple is by no means out of the woods, with the Galaxy Tab quite possibly still set to land in Australia before Christmas.

It will be a big victory for Samsung if this is the case. Currently, the Tab is banned in Germany too, and sales are certainly suffering due to Apple’s continued legal action.

Samsung is attempting to bypass the German ban by issuing a slightly rejigged version of the tablet.