Samsung bests Apple in Australia

Samsung has won its battle in the Australian courts, meaning the company can now sell the Galaxy Tab in the country.

Earlier this year, it appeared Apple had won in Australia as well as Germany, managing to get a block to stop Samsung’s 10 inch tablet from going on sale due to patent infringements.

However, the tide turned at the end of last month when Samsung secured a ruling from the federal court that this initial judgement was unfair and thus overturned.

Since then, the Tab has still been banned as Apple had a few days, which was extended by a week, to take things up a gear and appeal in the high court.

However, the judgement on that appeal has come back negative, with Samsung being cleared to begin selling the Galaxy Tab in Australia for Christmas.

Doubtless Apple’s lawyers, who had been getting the best of these legal exchanges up until now, weren’t very pleased.

Particularly as this comes on the heels of a US victory for Samsung, whereby a Californian court decided to decline Apple’s attempt to secure a preliminary injunction against the sale of both the Galaxy Tab and Galaxy S II smartphone.

There’s still mileage in that particular legal exchange, and indeed many others between the two companies.

Samsung is currently attempting to get around the German ban on the Tab by producing a slightly modified version of the slate.

Still, Samsung can breathe easier due to Australian sales being cleared, and the fact that the tide seems to be turning in its favour when it comes to the patent wars.

The Galaxy Tab is expected to achieve a 5% market share in the fourth quarter of 2011, and hold the position of the second best selling Android slate, according to IHS estimations.

Amazon’s Kindle Fire is expected to leap ahead of it with nearly triple that number, 14%, to make it the closest rival to the iPad. Apple’s tablet will snare about two-thirds of the market.