Apple Seeks Samsung Tablet Ban in Australia

By ROSS KELLY

SYDNEY—A legal dispute between Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. in Australia intensified Monday with an attorney representing the maker of the iPad alleging its South Korean rival's product infringes on patents relating to touch-screen technology.

The case is part of a global battle between the two companies that began in April, when Apple sued Samsung in California, saying its smartphones and tablets had "slavishly" copied the iPhone and iPad. The companies have since filed suits against one another in Germany, Japan, France and South Korea.

Apple is seeking a court injunction to prevent Samsung from selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia starting Friday. Apple has sold about 500,000 iPads in Australia, equal to about 2% of the total population, Credit Suisse said in June.

The company has filed at least a dozen patent infringement claims but only three, all related to touch-screen technology, are being considered in a hearing before Justice Annabelle Bennett in the Federal Court this week.

"It must have been as plain as the Opera House to Samsung that the Apple patents were right in front of its eyes and they were wide open," an attorney for Apple, Steven Burley, told the Federal Court. "They ought to clear the way in advance rather than try to crash through."

Mr. Burley said that Samsung's product is similar in "form, factor and shape" to Apple's iPad 2 and that even the cardboard boxes they are sold in look alike. Still, he confirmed that the current part of the hearing relates only to the touch-screen patents. One of these is for a "selective rejection" function on the iPad, where the tablet doesn't respond to accidental touches. The other patents relate to the design of the touch screens and their ability to enable vertical scrolling even when the person touching the screen doesn't move their finger in a precise vertical pattern.

An attorney for Samsung, David Catterns, said the case currently has nothing to do with the form, function or shape of the product and is instead based on specific patents that would have a "negligible" impact if the product's sale goes ahead. Mr. Catterns also said some existing Samsung products have the same features but Apple hasn't made any patent infringement claims.

Samsung on Sept. 18 said it had filed a countersuit alleging Apple's iPhone and iPad 2 tablet violate many wireless-technology patents held by Samsung.

The hearing continues Thursday morning.

Write to Ross Kelly at ross.kelly@dowjones.com

via online.wsj.com