By Slash Lane
Published: 03:59 PM EST (12:59 PM PST)
In an attempt to bypass claims of patent infringement from Apple, Samsung has modified the design of its Galaxy Tab 10.1 touchscreen tablet, slightly renamed it, and re-released it in Germany.
The new product, known as the Galaxy Tab 10.1N, attempts to avoid design-related intellectual property owned by Apple. As
noted by Florian Mueller of
FOSS Patents, the newly redesigned tablet has a metal frame that wraps "all around the edge to the extent that a part of it covers the margins of the front side."
"I'm not in the position to say that this product definitely steers clear of infringement. That's up for the courts to decide," he said. "But without a doubt, Samsung has upped the ante fro Apple and its lawyers in case they wish to request a new injunction or allege that this constitutes an infringement of the existing one."
Germany has become an important battleground in the fight between Samsung and Apple. Just last week, Samsung filed a
new complaint seeking an injunction against Apple's 3G products.
Up until this point, Apple has found the most success in seeing Samsung's products banned from sale. Samsung's revised Galaxy Tab 10.1N came about because a German court
permanently banned sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in September.
Since then, Apple also
won an injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia over accusations of patent infringement. Though Samsung has attempted to block sales of Apple products around the world under its own infringement claims, the Korean company has yet to succeed in doing so.
