Small Spanish company beats Apple in tablet design lawsuit

A small Spanish tablet computer maker named Nuevas Tecnologías y Energías Catalá from the Valencia region has successfully defended its Android-based tablet computers (marketed under the label NT-K) in court.

NT-K is now seeking damages from Apple for a temporary seizure of its products by Spanish customs, reports “FOSS Patents” (http://macte.ch/oRMib). What’s more, the company is pursuing an antitrust complaint against Apple, alleging abusive anticompetitive behavior.

“What makes this is even more noteworthy is the fact that Apple asserted the same design-related right — a so-called Community design — with which it won two injunctions against Samsung in Germany (one related to the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and another one related to the Galaxy Tab 7.7) but lost in the Netherlands (where an injunction was granted only against certain Samsung smartphones and based on a technical patent, not a design-related right),” notes “FOSS Patents.”