Is Samsung backing down in its patent fight with Apple? According to the Wall Street Journal, Samsung has offered Apple a deal that would allow the company to launch its Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia.
The plan was mentioned during a recent court hearing in Sydney. Details were not released, but an Apple attorney told Dow Jones Newswires that if the deal goes through, Samsung's "inconvenience would be diminished and we would be comforted." It doesn't settle the case, but Samsung would at least be able to sell the Galaxy Tab in Australia during the upcoming holiday shopping season.
The news comes several days after Apple temporarily excluded two of five patent claims against Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia. The two dropped patents covered the use of a slider icon that unlocked the tablet's touch screen as well an icon that bounced when zooming.
Last month, Samsung volunteered not to sell the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia any earlier than September 30, even though it was scheduled to launch on September 12. That came after Apple convinced a judge to delay Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 launch, claiming the tablet infringed on various elements of the Apple iPad 2. At the time Samsung's Australian counsel said Apple was basing its claims on the U.S. model, and Samsung agreed to hand to Apple several models of the Australian prototype.
Samsung and Apple, however, are battling over patents in almost two dozen countries, and Apple has already succeeded in getting the Galaxy Tab temporarily banned in Germany. Recently, Samsung sued Apple in France and the Netherlands, and the Korean company is reportedly preparing to sue Apple for infringing wireless patents in the iPhone 5, even though it hasn't been officially released.
The patent dispute between Apple and Samsung began in April, when Apple sued Samsung for copying the look and feel of its iPhone and iPad in its flagship Galaxy S line of devices; a suit that was later expanded to include 13 more products, including the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Nexus S 4G, and the Droid Charge.
For more, see Every Place Samsung and Apple Are Suing Each Other (as of Sept. 14).
All this comes as Samsung releases its Galaxy S II smartphone in the United States. For more, see PCMag's hands on and the slideshow below.