Samsung Electronics Co has won a round in its patent battle with world bruising Apple Inc. on Friday when an Australian court has lifted a ban on the sale of its Tablet PC Galaxy in time for the Christmas season many shops .
But the triumph of the South Korean firm in a Sydney court has been tempered by a reverse of the previous day in Paris, where another court rejected its bid to block the sale of the iPhone in France Apple 4S.
Apple and Samsung have been trained in some 30 legal cases in 10 countries since April, as they jostle for first place in the rapidly growing smartphone and tablet markets.
The decision of the Australian High Court allows Samsung to offer the device to Australian buyers for the last weeks of the Christmas shopping season and key came a week after a U.S. court denied Apple's advocacy for the Ban Galaxy phones and tablets in the country.
Apple on Thursday urged against the decision of the United States, which deprived the iPhone and iPad manufacturer of the leverage factor.
In France, the provision of Samsung to impose a temporary ban on sales on the iPhone 4S was rejected. Call for demand out of proportion, the court also ordered Samsung to pay 100,000 euros ($ 133,900) in legal fees from Apple, according to the decision.
Samsung said Friday it would consider the written reasons for the French ruling and continue to exercise all available options to enforce its intellectual property rights.
Apple first sued Samsung in the U.S. in April, saying the company smartphones and tablets slavishly copied its iPhone and iPad.
Samsung turned his back, Apple continues to breach its telecommunications technologies, and later expanded its suit to include the Apple iPhone 4S, released in October.
The South Korean firm filed motions preliminary injunction against the iPhone 4S Japan, France, Italy and Australia in October.
In Australia, sales of the iPhone 4S are allowed to continue after a court agreed to hear a case of patent infringement brought by Samsung in March.
"If the Italian candidacy (for Samsung) also fails, the time may come for both Apple and Samsung to realize that you can not win a marathon with a sprint," said intellectual property expert Florian Mueller.
"The problem with these" sprints "- in terms of requests for preliminary injunctions that courts may grant, after an expedited procedure - is that when they fail, they do nothing to improve the credibility of the respective applicant."
SALES RECOVERY virtually no 5-MONTH
Samsung Galaxy 10.1, which is considered one of the main alternatives to the Apple iPad, was kept out of the Australian market since late July.
The Australian market, while not huge, the market is the first launch for Apple products outside the United States.
At the end of November, Samsung won a rare legal victory after an Australian Federal Court has unanimously decided to lift a preliminary injunction imposed by a lower court, on sales of Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.
Apple had appealed against the decision of the High Court, which is the final court of appeal. Apple could not immediately be reached for comment.
Samsung is top manufacturer of smartphones, but far behind Apple in the tablets.
The dispute has sparked expectations that some $ 5 more than a billion pairs may be related to gain. Samsung has Apple as its largest customer and is central to Apple's mobile devices.
Global sales are expected to explode tablets to more than $ 50 million in 2011. Apple, which has sold over 30 million iPads so far, should continue to dominate the market in the short term.
Now Amazon.com has also entered the fray with its tablet Kindle a fire, but the Samsung Galaxy line-up is widely regarded as the closest rival in terms of capacity and design for the iPad.
Samsung's shares fell 0.4 percent compared to 0355 GMT down 1.8 percent in the overall market.