Now that Apple’s injunction blocking the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in Australia has been overturned and the device can be sold in the country, Samsung is saying that was better publicity than it could’ve bought.
Apple had managed to get sales of the iPad-like tablet blocked in the country over claims that Samsung copied its own designs instead of creating a unique product. Now that the ban has been overturned, however, Samsung plans to get its tablet in Australian stores by the end of the week.
Galaxy Tab ban was Samsung’s best publicity
“At the end of the day the media awareness certainly made the Galaxy Tab 10.1 a household name compared to probably what it would’ve been based on the investment that we would’ve put into it from a marketing perspective,” Samsung Australia vice president of telecommunications Tyler McGee told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Apple and Samsung have been fighting in court over patent infringement claims for several months with both companies alleging that the other’s mobile devices use patented technologies without proper licensing. They have filed lawsuits against each other in the U.S. and other countries.
A German court issued an injunction blocking the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the country, and the company lost an appeal to overturning that ruling. Apple was also awarded a temporary injunction through a Dutch court blocking the sale of some Galaxy devices in the European Union.
Samsung has been working unsuccessfully to block iPhone 4S sales in Australia, Japan, France, and Italy, but decided against seeking an injunction at home in South Korea. “We concluded that we should engage in legal battles with Apple only in the global market, but not in order to gain more market share in Korea,” a Samsung executive said.
While Samsung has missed out on weeks worth of sales, the company doesn’t see its iPad competitor as dead in Australian waters. Instead, Mr. McGee said the media coverage has made the Galaxy Tab a “household name.”
He added that while Samsung is bringing as many tablets as it can into Australia, customers should expect limited availability based on projected demand. He didn’t, however, say if that means Samsung is expecting to sell ten tablets or thousands.