Apple loses bid to get Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N banned in Germany

Apple has failed in its bid to get the redesigned Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N and Nexus smartphone banned from sale in Germany after a court in Munich rejected its request for an injunction, according to reports on Bloomberg.

Samsung redesigned its Galaxy tablet in 2011 (pictured on the left above) to circumvent a ban on its standard Galaxy Tab 10.1 device but Apple took issue with this too, and had sought a ban based on a patent relating to touchscreen technology, which also covered the Nexus.

The Munich court has now rejected this claim.

"Samsung has shown that it is more likely than not that the patent will be revoked because of a technology that was already on the market before the intellectual property had been filed for protection," presiding Judge Andreas Mueller is reported to have said when delivering the ruling.

V3 contacted Apple and Samsung for comment on the ruling but had received no reply at the time of publication.

Despite the ruling patent analyst Florian Mueller said in a blog post that he expected Apple to continue with its attempts to ban the device.

"I think Apple may very well appeal the Court's rejection to the Munich Higher Regional Court, which could still grant a preliminary injunction - or Apple might pursue this matter solely within the framework of the full-blown main proceeding before the lower court," he said.

"Either way, Apple will hardly give up on this patent at this stage."

The case is the latest in a long-line of rulings that have been handed down in recent weeks in favour of both firms as they both seek to gain the upper hand in the smartphone and tablet markets.

Samsung has suffered another setback, though, after the European Commission announced it is to launch an anti-trust investigation to establish whether the manufacturer violated commitments given to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).