Samsung plans Apple-OK'd Galaxy Tab Down Under
Samsung said in a statement that it's working on a version of its Galaxy tablet for the Australian market that will differ from its U.S. counterpart in order to comply with Apple's legal complaints.
Following yesterday's report that Apple and Samsung had come to an agreement in a federal court in Australia to have Samsung not sell the U.S. version of its Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the country, Samsung has confirmed the agreement.
A Samsung spokesperson responded to Android-focused blog Austdroid, noting that the company's plans to release a version of its Galaxy Tab 10.1 for the Australian market "in the near future":
Apple Inc. filed a complaint with the Federal Court of Australia involving a Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 variant that Samsung Electronics had no plans of selling in Australia. No injunction was issued by the court and the parties in the case reached a mutual agreement which stipulates that the variant in question will not be sold in Australia.
A Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 for the Australian market will be released in the near future.
This undertaking does not affect any other Samsung smartphone or tablet available in the Australian market or other countries.
Samsung will continue to actively defend and protect our intellectual property to ensure our continued innovation and growth in the mobile communication business.
That statement obviously does not go into detail about what changes will be made to that device in order to keep Apple from going on the legal offensive once again.
Yesterday Bloomberg reported that Samsung agreed to provide Apple three samples of its tablet ahead of it going on sale, which Apple can review to make sure there's no violation of its intellectual property, including patented technology or design and trademark flourishes.
The original dispute between the two companies began with a lawsuit filed by Apple against Samsung in the U.S. back in April. In that suit, Apple alleged that Samsung was violating its intellectual property in the design of its mobile devices, specifically the Galaxy series smartphones and tablets, and other smartphones. Samsung later countersued against Apple, saying the company was infringing on multiple patents.