Shortly before 4 PM local time, the Düsseldorf Regional Court's hearing on Apple v. Samsung (Galaxy Tab 10.1 Community design infringement case) ended, and I reported on it during and right after the hearing. I have now obtained a copy of the court's official press release, issued within about an hour of the closing of the court session, and this is my English translation (note that it's my translation, not an official one approved by the court):
Post-injunction hearing in Community design litigation between Apple and Samsung
Chamber 14c of the Düsseldorf Regional Court held a hearing today on Samsung's [post-injunction] opposition to the preliminary injunction ordered at Apple's request on August 9, 2011. The session started with an introduction of the state of affairs in this litigation by the presiding judge and her statement on the preliminary legal opinion of the Court. According to that position, the Community design presented by Apple has to be considered valid and is infringed by Samsung. That said, the Court reaffirmed doubts about having cross-border jurisdiction over a company domiciled outside the European Union with respect to Europe-wide injunctions. Therefore, the Court has indicated that, after the consultation that took place before the hearing, it tends to uphold the preliminary injunction against Samsung Germany to its full extent and to lift it with respect to Samsung's Korean parent company with respect to markets outside of the Federal Republic of Germany. At the same time, the Court also pointed out that the final decision can be different from this inclination if one must conclude that there was no sense of urgency for a preliminary injunction, considering that Apple could have moved for a preliminary injunction at an earlier point in time. This could, for example, be the case if it had already been possible in early June 2011 -- as Samsung represented to the Court -- to gather from Samsung's German subsidiary's German-language website based on reliable and easily accessible depictions what Samsung's product intended for sale in the European market would look like and when it was going to be released.
Subsequently to the aforementioned statement by the Court, the parties had ample opportunity to present their views. Thereafter, the Court scheduled the announcement of a [post-hearing] decision for
Friday, September 9, 2011, 11:00 AM [Central European Time], in room 2.122
in order to weigh the mutual arguments of the parties against each other and to give additional consideration to the Court's preliminary legal opinion in recognition of those arguments.
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