South Korean electronics giant Samsung will Tuesday launch its Galaxy Tab 10.1 on the Dutch market in the midst of a legal stand-off with rival US-based Apple and sales banned elsewhere in Europe.

"The Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be on sale from Tuesday" in a large electronics chain around the country, Tamara Villani, Samsung spokeswoman in the Netherlands, said on Monday.

From August 23, the tablet will be available in various other stores, she added.

Apple's lawyers last week asked a Dutch judge to ban the sale of three different types of Samsung smart phones as well as three tablets, including the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

It filed papers before the Hague district court on June 27, asking for an injunction and accusing Samsung of infringing on its design and patents.

The court was expected to give its decision by 15 September.

Samsung's spokeswoman said she could not comment on how sales in the Netherlands would affect the trial's outcome.

"Whatever the decision, we can continue our business as planned until October 13," Villani said, referring to the date the judge would set for Samsung to remove offending products from the shelves if an injunction was granted in Apple's favour.

The case before the Dutch court is the latest episode in the battle between Samsung and Apple, manufacturer of the iPad, who have been pursuing legal action against one another since April over design rights.

Earlier this month, Apple also launched legal proceedings in Australia against Samsung, accusing it of infringing its patents with the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

A Dusseldorf court a week ago granted a separate injunction halting the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 across Europe, with the exception of the Netherlands.

Samsung indicated that it would appeal the decision.

earlier related report
HTC accuses Apple of patent infringement
Washington (AFP) Aug 16, 2011 - Taiwan's HTC Corp. has accused Apple of patent infringement in the latest salvo in an ongoing legal battle between the smartphone giants.

HTC, in the lawsuit filed on Monday in US District Court in the state of Delaware, accused Apple of violating three HTC-held patents in its Macintosh computers, iPods, iPhones, iPads and other products.

HTC asked the court for damages and to bar Apple from importing into the United States any devices found to be infringing the patents, according to a copy of the lawsuit posted by technology blog TechCrunch.

Patent lawsuits are a regular occurrence among technology giants and Apple has accused HTC and other smartphone makers using Google's Android mobile operating system of infringing on Apple-held patents.

Google announced on Monday it was buying US smartphone manufacturer Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in cash, giving the Internet giant a strong patent portfolio to defend Android against its rivals.

"Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google's patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies," Google chief executive Larry Page said.

Motorola Mobility chief executive Sanjay Jha told financial analysts the US maker of smartphones and touchscreen tablet computers has over 17,000 issued patents and another 7,500 pending.

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