Apple wins preliminary injunction on Galaxy S phones in Netherlands

A Dutch district court in The Hague has ruled in favor of Apple in one of the many patent infringement lawsuits taking place between Apple and Samsung internationally.

The Judge presiding over the case has banned the sale of Galaxy S, Galaxy S II, and Ace (S5830) smartphones in the Netherlands and "many European countries."

Apple's evidence in the case stirred some controversy last week because images of the iPhone and Galaxy S devices used as evidence were photoshopped into identical sizes and proportions, this ruling was made not on the basis of appearance or hardware design, but rather for methods of interaction on screen.

The principle patent that these Samsung devices were found guilty of violating was EP 2,058,868 ("method of scrolling/browsing galleries), but the court also cited Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 10.1v in the patents EP 2,098,948 and EP 1,964,022 (multi-touchpoint "flagging" on screen, and gesture-based screen unlocking).

The court did not say the Galaxy Tabs would be included in the injunction, but they were highlighted.