Samsung has reportedly agreed not to sell the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia until it settles an ongoing patent dispute with Apple.
Bloomberg reports that Samsung will halt all pre-launch advertising until the Federal Court of Australia resolves a case that sees Apple suing Samsung for copying the look and feel of its iPhones and iPads. Apple is also seeking an injunction on the Galaxy Tab in the U.S., U.K., Japan, Germany, France, Italy, and South Korea.
Apple Australia lawyer Stephen Bennett said the Australian injunction was necessary because Samsung had been advertising an "imminent launch" of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 since July 20.
Samsung has also reportedly agreed to give Apple three samples of the Australian version of the tablet at least seven days before it plans to launch. Meanwhile in the U.S., Verizon started selling the tablet last Thursday.
Intellectual property patent blogger Florian Mueller says the fact that Samsung isn't defending the U.S. version of the product is suspect.
"Apparently, Samsung didn't want to take its chances trying to defend its U.S. product in the Australian court. Instead, Samsung hopes to defend its Australian version. But this does appear pretty weak. If Samsung believed that the U.S. version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 doesn't infringe any of Apple's rights, it would have defended itself as a matter of principle," he wrote on the FOSS blog.
The escalating patent dispute between Apple and Samsung began in April, when Apple sued Samsung for copying the look and feel of its iPhone and iPad with its Galaxy S line of smartphones and tablets, among other devices. Samsung responded with a countersuit that targeted Apple for infringing on five patents relating to wireless networking technology.
Last Wednesday the International Trade Commission (ITC) in the U.S. agreed to hear Samsung's patent case against Apple. Filed in late June, Samsung is seeking an injunction of U.S. imports of the Apple iPhone, iPod, and iPad.
For more, see PCMag's review of the Wi-Fi Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the slideshow below.