Apple vs. Samsung: next round today

Oz Federal Court readies blue, red corners

The next round of Apple vs. Samsung in Australia is due to take place this morning (August 29), Sydney time, with a directions hearing before Justice Bennett of the Federal Court of Australia at 9.15am.

Don’t get too excited, however: a directions hearing is a merely procedural matter, in which the court indicates to the parties how the action should proceed (including details such as working out the handover of documents, timetables, and so on).

If the hearing proceeds, all it will immediately mean is that the two parties haven’t somehow settled their differences outside court, and that for now at least, the case is proceeding.

Since the two smartphone behemouths have continued with legal mortar fire in the US and Europe since the first hearing three weeks ago, it doesn’t seem likely that the Australian case will disappear any time soon.

The dispute has kept Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 out of the hands of Australian consumers, and with the case descending to the ridiculous level of citing Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey as prior art for tablet computers, locals who want a fondleslab alternative to the iPad and missed out on their shot at a cut-price HP TouchPad will just have to keep waiting. ®