Apple wins injunction in US against Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1

Bad news for Samsung: a US judge has ruled that the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Samsung's flagship Android tablet, infringes Apple's iPad design patent and should be banned from sale, pending further review.

The courts had already ruled that Apple was allowed to pursue a sales ban of the Galaxy Tab 10.1, and Samsung is currently looking to resolve the whole mess with a cross-licensing deal.

However, ahead of a full hearing on Friday, US District Judge Lucy Koh granted Apple's request for a preliminary injunction against Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1, explaining, "Although Samsung has a right to compete, it does not have a right to compete unfairly by flooding the market with infringing products."

"While Samsung will certainly suffer lost sales from the issuance of an injunction, the hardship to Apple of having to directly compete with Samsung's infringing products outweighs Samsung's harm in light of the previous findings by the Court."

The injunction will come into effect as soon as Apple posts a $2.6 million bond - this is necessary to protect Samsung in case it is later decided that the original ruling was incorrect. Essentially, a complete ban on the tablet in the US is very close to happening, which would be a huge blow for Samsung.

Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet told AllThingsD after the preliminary hearing: "It's no coincidence that Samsung's latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging."

"This kind of blatant copying is wrong and, as we've said many times before, we need to protect Apple's intellectual property when companies steal our ideas."

Samsung didn't stay silent on the matter, however, shooting back in an official statement that reads: "Apple sought a preliminary injunction of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1, based on a single design patent that addressed just one aspect of the product's overall design."

"Should Apple continue to make legal claims based on such a generic design patent, design innovation and progress in the industry could be restricted."