South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Monday agreed to postpone the launch of its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer in Australia until the end of September.
The postponement is part of patent dispute with Apple Inc that centres on its likeness to the US company’s iPad 2.
Apple had demanded that Australian Federal Court Justice Annabelle Bennett order the postponement.
“Following today’s hearing in the Federal Court of Australia, Samsung has agreed to delay the launch of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 pending the court’s decision in the week commencing September 26, 2011,” Samsung said in a statement issued to The Australian newspaper.
“It should be noted that the court has not issued an injunction against the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1, and the court did not make any ruling during today’s hearing,” the statement added.
The electronics giants fell out in April, when Apple sued Samsung in the United States alleging that the Galaxy phone and tablet were copies of the iPhone and iPad.
Samsung responded with a legal action of its own.
The legal wrangle has also spread to Europe, where a court in Germany has issued a partial injunction on marketing of the Galaxy tablet.
Samsung’s statement in Australia said it was ready to comply with Apple’s request that it be allowed to study three Samsung Galaxy tablets seven days before the intended local release date.
Samsung said in the statement it was filing a cross—claim, citing a number of alleged infringements of its tablet by Apple’s iPad tablet.
“Today, Samsung Electronics informed the Federal Court of Australia it intends to file a cross claim against Apple Australia and Apple Inc regarding the invalidity of the patents previously asserted by Apple and also a cross claim against Apple regarding violation of patents held by Samsung by selling its iPhones and iPads,” the statement said.
