US judge rules Samsung's Galaxy Tab infringes on iPad patents, but stops short of sales ban

After a day that saw Samsung having to deal with product bans in Australia and the need to alter its line-up in the Netherlands, the Korean giant finally received some good news courtesy of a US judge.

While District Judge Lucy Koh effectively ruled in Apple's failure, claiming Samsung's Galaxy Tab does infringe on Apple's iPad, no product ban was enforced.

Indeed, Koh went on to claim Cook and co. may have some difficulty attempting to establish the validity of the patents in question.

Next steps

The ruling comes six months after Apple began legal proceedings against Samsung in the US, claiming the firm's range of Galaxy phones and tablets "slavishly" copied both iPhone and iPad.

In July, Apple followed with a request to have said products pulled from sale across the country a move operators Verizon and T-Mobile protested against, in view of the likely sales hit they'd take in the run up to Christmas.

Despite this most recent setback, however, Apple can still move forward in its efforts to block Samsung in the US.

Judge Koh said she would not grant any injunction based on one of the firm's 'utility' patents branding them "tentative" at best - but there's a possibility a ban could result if a decision is taken in Apple's favour regarding any of its three 'design' patents.

[source: Reuters]