Apple wins key patent case against Samsung

Apple won the latest battle in a global legal war with Samsung on Friday when a German court banned the Korean firm from selling a tablet computer in Germany, ruling it had copied the iPad.

Apple won the latest battle in a global legal war with Samsung on Friday when a German court banned the Korean firm from selling a tablet computer in Germany, ruling it had copied the iPad.

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The court, in the western city of Duesseldorf, said Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 computer, a rival to Apple's iconic iPad, had infringed key patent laws.

Presiding judge Johanna Brueckner-Hoffmann said there was a "clear impression of similarity" between the Apple and the Samsung products.

As an example, she cited the "minimalist, modern form" of the two firms' products, with flat screens and rounded edges. However, it limited the sales ban to Germany, despite ruling in a previous judgement that the ban should be Europe-wide.