Last week, Federal Court Justice Annabelle Bennett granted Apple’s request to ban the Galaxy Tab 10.1 sale in Australia until after the formal hearing, but declined their request for all Samsung tablets be banned in Australia plus their request to get an advance copy of upcoming Samsung tablets.

Galaxy Tab 10.1 Found A Way To Australian Soil

Australian buyers are brushing off the judge’s ruling as they opted to buy online to get their hands on the banned Galaxy Tab 10.1.  Also, online shops like eBay, MobiCity.com.au, Expansys, Techrific and dMavo are getting stocks from Hong Kong to bypass Samsung Australia.

One online seller, Ruslan Kogan, also offered the tablet but had to stop when he received legal threats from Apple, but other online sellers doesn’t seem to be fazed by Apple’s threats.

“If this is an outcome of the injunction, the harm is not to Samsung, which makes its sales all the same, but to the Australian retailers who do not have the opportunity to compete,” said senior patent lawyer Mark Summerfield, from Watermark in Melbourne.

“If we could ask one question of Justice Bennett in the wake of her decision it would be this: does she really believe, in a global consumer economy, that there is any practical value in an Australian court slapping an injunction on a mass-market consumer product that is, in any event, widely available for purchase online?”

Samsung vs. iPhone 4S

Aside from filing to ban the iPhone 4S sale in France and Italy, Samsung is also pushing to ban the device in Australia and Japan.

“Samsung’s preliminary injunction request in Australia cites three patent infringements related to wireless telecommunications standards, specifically Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) and HSPA,” Samsung said in a statement.

“The injunction request in Japan cites infringements on one High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) standard-related patent and three user interface patents, which seriously violate Samsung’s intellectual property.  In light of these violations, Samsung believes the sale of such Apple devices should be injuncted. Apple has continued to violate our patent rights and free ride on our technology. We will steadfastly protect our intellectual property.”

As for their Dutch fling, Samsung claims that Apple infringed on its patents, and hopes to ban sales in the Netherlands, but was rejected though the court stated that, “If parties cannot reach an agreement, Samsung can still file a claim.”

A New Ally

Yandex, the leading internet company in Russia, and Samsung announced a strategic partnership in the CIS countries. Samsung Smart TV in these countries now features Yandex’s TV widget with access to the company’s online services. Samsung’s Smart TV for users in the CIS now has Yandex as the default search engine with the portal’s front page set up as the default homepage. Yandex’s services will also be available on Bada 2.0 powered smartphones in the near future.

“This partnership between two market leaders, Samsung and Yandex, will be beneficial to the consumer who will benefit from a new level of helpful services in smart devices from Samsung,” said Sergey Pevnev, Marketing Director for the CIS countries at Samsung Electronics. “Yandex’s apps for Samsung Smart TV and bada-powered mobile phones help users to quickly find and receive the latest information and stay updated on recent news and events.”