Apple pursues ban on altered Samsung Galaxy tablet in Germany

A Düsseldorf court has set a date to hear an appeal from Apple, which is seeking an injunction preventing Samsung Electronics from selling a tablet modified to beat an earlier injunction, a court spokesman said on Friday.

The hearing is set for June 5, said Ulrich Egger, a spokesperson for the higher regional court in Düsseldorf.

Düsseldorf's regional court decided last year that the design of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 is too close to an Apple registered design, and banned sales of the device. Samsung appealed the decision, but in January the higher regional court in Düsseldorf upheld the ban.

Meanwhile, Samsung had altered the design of its tablet to circumvent the injunction, adding speaker grills to the front, changing the bezel and calling the revised model the Galaxy Tab 10.1N.

Apple sought to ban sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1N too, but a judge at the regional court in Düsseldorf ruled in February that its design was sufficiently different. It is that ruling that Apple will seek to have overturned at the June 5 hearing.

There will probably be no verdict in June, with the court expected to rule later this year, according to Egger.

A second German court favored Samsung over Apple in February: The regional court of Munich also ruled that Samsung is allowed to keep selling the 10.1N in Germany.

Neither Apple nor Samsung could be reached for comment.

Loek covers all things tech for the IDG News Service. Follow him on Twitter at @loekessers or email tips and comments to loek_essers@idg.com