An Australian judge suggests Apple pony up some iPad sales figures to bolster its argument for barring sales of Samsung’s Galaxy 10.1 tablet. Although it is was only a suggestion, the tech giant may have to disclose sales in the UK and U.S. – something Samsung attorneys have demanded.
Federal Court judge Annabelle Bennett Monday said without evidence showing Samsung’s tablet hurt iPad sales, “I can’t draw any positive assumptions,” Bloomberg reports. The problem for Apple, which contends the Galaxy Tab is “remarkably similar” to its tablet, is that executives have long said it was selling every iPad it can get its hands on.
Apple could still release positive iPad sales figures but argue the existence of a similar tablet may have blunted potential sales. If someone went into a store looking for an iPad, but found the device out of stock and purchased a Galaxy Tab instead, that would still be damaging for Apple, the Cupertino, Calif. company could argue.
Currently, Samsung has voluntarily held the Galaxy Tab 10.1 from the Australian market. However, the court will hold another hearing later this month that could order a preliminary injunction until a final decision is announced.
In Europe, Apple has had mixed results attempting to stop distribution of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab. A German court initially banned the device in all European countries, except the Netherlands, then revised the ruling to cover just countries who are EU members.
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
14 responses to “Judge To Apple: Want To Prove Samsung’s Copying Hurts You? Show Us Your iPad 2 Sales Numbers”
This request makes no sense. How could the sales figures possibly show what she wants even if Apple discloses them?
HAHAHA, that’s amazing.
yeah, it’s a bit like saying ‘show me what’s going to happen’
My question to the judge is, ‘what will you compare the numbers to?’ Its a nascent field.
Apple’s point is that the Samsung POS damages customers’ perceptions of the iPad itself once they get it home and see how crappy it really is.
this is called rowdyism ! apples aggressiveness is directly proportional to its awesomeness ! ha ha !
So what if the plagiarizing device otherwise sucks? Failing in the market doesn’t make what Samsung’s trying to do any less egregious. The issues of “what constitutes infringement” and “what effect does infringement have on sales” are entirely separate and impossible to subject to metrics.
You know how wrong this judge is when The Prof and I are in complete agreement!
1) They show nothing, because there’s nothing to compare (uh, this is what they are now, and, uh… That’s about all we got”)
2) Sales figures have nothing to do with patent infringement. If I can prove I designed the iPod BEFORE Apple, but didn’t want to sell it, I STILL have a legitimate patent infringement claim. It’s called Intellectual PROPERTY, and I get to decide what I want to do with it, not the market.