Apple and Samsung are battling it out in court in several jurisdictions, including the United States, South Korea and now, Australia, over claims that certain Samsung devices, such as the Galaxy Tab 10.1, violate a number of Apple patents.
Samsung has agreed to hold off bringing the Galaxy Tab 10.1 to Australia until it resolves its patent lawsuit with Apple. Given the time it typically takes to resolve such disputes, and the limited time any particular device or software load can be sold in any market, it is conceivable that the unresolved lawsuit could mean only subsequent generations of the device will be available in Australia or other markets.No matter what the ultimate outcome, the lawsuit already is delaying Samsung product launches. Patent infringement lawsuits are a weapon of business warfare in several ways. Long term, such lawsuits can create revenue streams for one set of contestants, while raising manufacturing costs for rivals. In the short term, the lawsuits can upset product launch plans, and impede or destroy revenue prospects for a device, or generation of software.
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