The headline on the Sydney Morning Herald's story says it all: "Defiant retailer gives Apple the finger."
Dmavo, an Australian electronics retail website, is now selling the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, even though Apple won a temporary injunction banning sales of the iPad competitor nationwide in an Australian court this past October. The website has moved its servers and registered as a separate, foreign company, according to an interview with dMavo managing director Wojtek Czarnocki published in the Sydney Morning Herald. (Click here to view the questionably legal sales page for the Australian Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.)
Dmavo is not the first Australian company to circumvent the court's injunction in order to sell the seemingly popular Samsung slates. GigaOM points out that Mobicity, an Aussie mobile retailer, also markets the Galaxy Tab on its website, claiming protection due to the fact that it is Hong Kong-owned.
From a Mobicity forum explaining how the retailer was able to sell Samsung tablets in Australia:
The company [Mobicity] is however a Hong Kong entity and goods are shipped direct from our warehouse by express courier direct to our happy customers. Therefore the transaction takes place in Hong Kong and not subject to Apple's legal action in the region.
The hearing that will decide whether patents were indeed infringed upon and whether or not the Australian ban is permanent is scheduled for November 25, per the Sydney Morning Herald; after the temporary injunction was granted, Samsung issued a statement defending its tablet, declaring that it was "disappointed with this ruling" and that the company would "take all necessary measures, including legal action, in order to ensure our innovative products are available to consumers."
This gambit by an Australian retailer is the latest in the long-running, international patent wars being waged between Apple and Samsung. Apple sued and won over the Galaxy Tab in Australia; Samsung is currently suing over the iPhone 4S in South Korea, despite having lost attempts to block iPad AND iPhone sales in the Netherlands; Apple, meanwhile, is suing Samsung over unidentified patents concerning Android in the United Kingdom, though it should be noted that Apple's suit is a countersuit against Samsung having sued Apple in the UK earlier in 2011. Lately, Samsung has been seeking to ban iPhone 4S sales in France, Italy and the United Kingdom, all while Apple sues Samsung in U.S. courts over the Galaxy Tab's similarity to the iPad.
Samsung recently leapfrogged Apple to become the number one smartphone-seller in the world in Q3, though most expect Apple to regain that title in Q4 once iPhone 4S sales are tallied.
In Australia, meanwhile, the battle between Apple and Samsung rages on. Neither Apple nor Samsung have commented on the elusive selling strategies of Dmavo or Mobicity; presumably the two technology giants will do their talking in court.