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Samsung pulls Galaxy Tab 7.7 tablet from IFA booth

Samsung yanks its Galaxy Tab 7.7 tablet from the IFA show floor after Apple receives an injunction against the device to go with an earlier ban on the larger Galaxy Tab 10.1.

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Attendees examined Samsung's Galaxy Tab 7.7 tablet at the IFA show in Berlin on Friday. The device has since been pulled from the company's booth.
Attendees examined Samsung's Galaxy Tab 7.7 tablet at the IFA show in Berlin on Friday. The device has since been pulled from the company's booth. Stephen Shankland/CNET

Samsung has yanked its Galaxy Tab 7.7 tablet from the show floor at the IFA consumer-electronics confab in Berlin after Apple received an injunction against the device to go with an earlier ban on sales and marketing of the larger Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany.

Intellectual-property blog Foss Patents reported the news of the removal yesterday, speculating that it had to do with the 10.1 injunction or a newly issued ban specific to the 7.7. Bloomberg today confirmed the issuance of the 7.7 ban. The 7.7 had been on display at IFA on Friday bearing a sticker that read "Not for sale in Germany."

According to Bloomberg, Samsung representative James Chung said the ban on the 7.7 was issued Friday. "Samsung respects the court's decision," the news service quoted Chung as saying, adding that he said Samsung believes the court order "severely limits consumer choice in Germany." Bloomberg said Apple did not immediately comment.

Apple was granted the preliminary injunction on sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 last month by a court in Dusseldorf. The ban originally applied to nearly all European Union countries, but the court later limited the injunction's scope to just Germany, saying it had no jurisdiction over other nations.

Apple claims Samsung ripped off technology and design details from the iPad in developing the Galaxy Tab (which Samsung denies), and the two companies have been engaged in a sue-me, sue-you struggle.

Foss Patents also reported on Saturday that Samsung had removed the Galaxy Tab 7.7 from its German Web site. And blog This Is My Next posted before-and-after photos showing that Samsung had scraped 7.7-related decals from its IFA booth.

Note: This story was originally published on September 3. It has been updated and republished to reflect the Bloomberg report.