Apple loses iPad lawsuit to tiny Spanish tablet maker

Apple has lost a legal fight against a small Spanish tablet manufacturer called NT-K, maker of the NT-K Android tablet.

In a ruling that contrasts with Apple's legal domination against Samsung, NT-K successfully defended its products from accusations that the company was 'copying' Apple's iPad, Foss Patents explains.

The claim was filed by Apple in November last year, and saw the Spanish company's shipments from China seized, and its name temporarily placed on an EU-wide list of product pirates. Aside from the commercial dispute, Apple even brought criminal charges against NT-K, a move that Foss Patent's Florian Mueller called "absolutely outrageous".

Now those claims have been dismissed, and it seems the little company has lodged an anti-trust complaint against Apple, and is suing for compensation for monetary damages, lost profits and "moral damages".

NT-K published a triumphant post on its company blog (in Spanish), part of which 9to5Mac has translated thus: "We are a small company like many others in these times of crisis we are trying to get ahead, and it seems grossly unfair that a company the calibre of Apple has to use its dominant influence."

Interestingly, the complaint Apple lodged apparently concerned the same design right it asserted in its fight against Samsung, winning two injunctions in Germany against the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Galaxy Tab 7.7.

What are your thoughts? Is it unfair of Apple to sue tablet manufacturers and call their products copies? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, or on our Facebook wall.