Apple Lawsuit Puts Samsung Tablet Sales in Australia on Hold

Apple Inc. won an agreement from Samsung Electronics Co. that the South Korean company won’t sell the newest version of its tablet computer in Australia until a patent lawsuit in the country is resolved.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 infringes 10 Apple patents, including the “look and feel,” and touchscreen technology of the iPad, Steven Burley, a lawyer for Apple, told Federal Court Justice Annabelle Bennett in Sydney yesterday. The Cupertino, California-based company sought an Australian injunction and also wants to stop Samsung from selling the tablet in other countries, Burley said without specifying where.

Samsung, based in Suwon, South Korea, agreed to stop advertising the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia and not to sell the device until it wins court approval or the lawsuit is resolved, according to an accord reached by lawyers during a break in the hearing. Should Apple lose its patent infringement lawsuit, it agreed to pay Samsung damages, which weren’t specified.

The dispute between the companies began in April when Apple sued Samsung in the U.S., claiming the Galaxy products “slavishly” imitated the designs and technologies used for its iPad and iPhone. Samsung, which supplies memory chips for Apple, retaliated with lawsuits in South Korea, Japan, Germany and the U.S.

Imminent Launch

The Australian injunction is necessary because Samsung has had “announcements of an imminent launch of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 device ongoing since July 20,” Burley said before the agreement was announced.

Apple is basing yesterday’s claim on a U.S. version of the Galaxy tablet, which is different from the one that will be sold in Australia, Samsung’s lawyer Neil Murray said.

Samsung had no plans to sell the U.S. version of the Galaxy tablet in Australia, the company said in an e-mailed statement today.

The agreement to halt advertising and sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 doesn’t affect any other Samsung tablet or smart phone available in Australia, or other countries, the company said.

Samsung agreed to provide Apple three samples of the Australian version of the computer tablet at least seven days before it planned to start distributing it so the U.S. company could review it, according to the agreement submitted in court.

Bennett scheduled a hearing for Aug. 29 to review the status of the case and set a trial date if necessary.

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Google+ attracts 25 million visitors

Google+, launched in late June, had 25 million unique visitors as of July 24 and is growing at a rate of roughly one million visitors a day, comScore noted in a presentation.

In contrast, it took Facebook about three years to attract 25 million visitors, while Twitter took just over 30 months, according to comScore.

While the data show Google's latest attempt at breaking into social networking has started strongly, it may not mean the project is a long-term success. MySpace grew to 25 million unique visitors in less than two years -- faster than Facebook or Twitter. However, it's lost a lot of visitors in the past year, comScore data show.

The United States had more than 6 million unique visitors, and India more than 3.6 million, the data show,

Canada and the UK had around 1 million unique visitors each, Germany over 920,000 and Brazil just over 780,000. France and Taiwan each had around 500,000.

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Gurgaon traffic police click offenders' pictures

In an initiative to track traffic offenders in Gurgaon, traffic policemen might be taking the perfect shot with help of cell phones, the next time one jumps a red light. The pictures will then be uploaded onto a police website.

The latest weapon of Mukesh Kumar of the Gurgaon Police against crime is his cell phone. Over the past one month, instead of running after traffic offenders, Kumar has been simply clicking their photos.

"It's effective. I just quietly click snaps. It helps when the violator is a politician or one of those guys who'll keep calling our superiors. This spares us a lot of headaches," Kumar said.

Kumar's photos are instantly uploaded on the police website, along with hundreds of others from his mates on the force. They're digitally stamped with the date, time and location of crime and are used by the police officials to issue challans.

Fifty police men in Gurgaon now have the Nokia E 5 phones and use them with great relish. Similar schemes with Blackberry phones had been implemented earlier in Bangalore and Kerala. But the Gurgaon effort is slightly different.

Nokia

 Director Suresh Vedula said, "The Gurgaon force didn't have too many personnel authorised to issue a challan on the spot. So we decided to go in for a server system, where photos can be stored and paper challans issued eventually."

There is one tiny loophole though. What if your car is photographed. But it was borrowed and driven by a friend? Who pays up then?

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BJP leader VK Malhotra 'applauded' Suresh Kalmadi

As the NDA slammed the government for the appointment of Suresh Kalmadi as the head of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee, we revisited an RTI application which revealed how in a 2008 meeting, BJP leader VK Malhotra "applauded" Mr Kalmadi for the "excellent services rendered by him." Mr Malhotra also proposed Mr Kalmadi's re-election as Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President. 

As the Chairman of the Organising Committee, Mr Kalmadi led a team of men whose biggest trademark became bare-faced corruption. He was arrested in April. So whoever picked him chose unwisely. (Read: Who made Kalmadi chairman? Many denials, mystery deepens)

A report by the government's auditor blames the Prime Minister's Office for Mr Kalmadi's elevation to head of the committee that stole crores from the country. 

"In our opinion, the decision of the PMO for appointing Suresh Kalmadi as Chairman of the OC facilitated the conversion of the originally envisaged government-owned OC into a body effectively outside the government control," writes the Comptroller and Auditor General. The report will be presented soon in Parliament.

But the Prime Minister's Office blames Atal Behari Vajpayee's government which was in power when India bid for the Games in 2003 - a claim repeated in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday by Sports Minister Ajay Maken. The BJP has, however, denied this.

But documents obtained through Right To Information (RTI) by activist Subhash Agarwal show that ironically, it was senior BJP leader VK Malhotra who had proposed the re-election of Suresh Kalmadi as the president of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) in 2008.

According to the minutes of that 2008 meeting to elect the IOA chief, "While applauding the excellent services rendered by Mr Suresh Kalmadi as the President of the IOA and Chairman, Organising Committee Commonwealth Games Delhi 2010, Mr Malhotra proposed the re-election of Suresh Kalmadi as President of Indian Olympic Association." 

Mr Kalmadi was elected unanimously. In return, he proposed the name of VK Malhotra for the post of senior Vice-President. 

After the CBI arrested Kalmadi on charges of corruption in April this year, Mr Malhotra was appointed as the acting President of the IOA.

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Parliament to finally do business, debate inflation today

On Tuesday, BJP members led by M Venkaiah Naidu called for suspension of Question Hour in Rajya Sabha to discuss price rise. In the Lok Sabha, SP members trooped into the well seeking dismissal of the Uttar Pradesh for committing atrocities against farmers. BSP members carried placards, blaming the centre for the poor conditions of the farmers. They demanded immediate passage of the land acquisition bill.
The disagreement between the government and the NDA was on whether the inflation debate in the Lok Sabha should be under Rule 184 that entails voting or Rule 193, which does not entail a vote, as the government wanted.

Parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal met leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and worked out the compromise. Both sides agreed to the debate under Rule 184, with a notice that does not indict the government over price rise.

The notice will now say the burden of price rise on the common man is continuing, and that the House expresses deep concern and calls upon the government to take immediate steps to check inflation.
Apart from BJP's Yashwant Sinha and JD(U)'s Sharad Yadav, Congressman KS Rao has moved a resolution on price rise.

Bansal said, "There was a feeling from both sides that Parliament should function. That helped us arrive at a common ground."

The Congress and the BJP also arrived at an informal arrangement that the resolution on corruption will not directly try to indict the PM or any UPA minister.

The Rajya Sabha will take up a short discussion on internal security with reference to the recent terror attacks in Mumbai under rule176 (without voting)

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Gowda or Shettar? Decision on next Karnataka Chief Minister likely today Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/gowda-or-shettar-decision-on-next-karnataka-chief-minister-likely-today-123903&cp

BS Yeddyurappa vows he shall be back soon. But that's for later. Karnataka needs a Chief Minister immediately and the BJP is expected to decide today on who that person shall be. By vote. The two men said to be forerunners for the post: Mr Yeddyurappa's man Sadanand Gowda and Jagadish Shettar, who belongs to the rival camp of Ananth Kumar. 
 
Mr Yeddyurappa had quit as Karnataka Chief Minister reluctantly on Sunday, days after the Santosh Hegde report on illegal mining severely indicted him and his family. His resignation was accompanied by the usual political drama - clinging to the chair till he could, then picking a propitious time to resign and finally, a massive show of strength as he walked to the Raj Bhawan flanked by 70 MLAs. In all that, Mr Yeddyurappa also made clear that while he was acceding to party wishes that he quit, only a person of his choice should be his successor. 
 
But three days later, as the BJP heads into a meeting on Wednesday to pick the new CM, there is clearly a battle ahead. The two rival BJP groups are huddled in two different luxury hotels of Bangalore and each insists that their man will be the next CM. Mr Yeddyurappa's group claims to have the support of about 70 MLAs and are quite sanguine that Sadanand Gowda will be picked. 
 
Not so fast, says the Ananth Kumar camp. The BJP General Secretary has had a troubled relationship with Yeddyurappa, who is said to have shot down the proposal that Ananth Kumar take over as Chief Minister. Now this camp wants to ensure that one of them makes it to the chair. "Central leaders have taken the opinion of both sides. First we thought of myself, Eshwarappa and Jagadish Shettar. After that we sat and talked - along with Ananth Kumar - and we believe it will be Jagadish Shettar, said R Ashok, the Karnataka Home Minister.

 
But, as the home minister says, "ultimately it is the MLAs who will decide."
 
Caste equations, which matter much, too are at the heart of this fight for the top position. Mr Yeddyurappa belongs to the powerful and dominant Lingayat community. The Ananth Kumar camp wants Jagadish Shettar, also a Lingayat, to be CM to neutralise Mr Yeddyurappa's indubitable influence. On the other side, the Yeddyurappa camp is pushing for Sadanand Gowda, who is a Vokkaliga, another dominant community. Gowda in the saddle would also mean that Mr Yeddyurappa would remain the Lingayat strongman. 
 
Who is Sadanand Gowda?
 
Sadanand Gowda, 58, is an MP from Udupi Chikmagalur. He has been BJP state president and a non-controversial one - a considerable feat in a unit that has several power centres. Gowda has also been an MLA and deputy leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly. The Vokkaliga leader has a law degree and was a sportsman in college. 
 
The affable Gowda lists chatting with family and friends among his interests. He has one son - and has so far had no allegations against him of corruption or nepotism. Issues that led to Mr Yeddyurappa's ouster. 
 

Who is Jagadigh Shettar?
 
Jagadish Shettar is 55 and comes from north Karnataka. He too trained as a lawyer and has been politically active ever since he was a student. He was and active part of both the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishat, the BJP's student wind, and the RSS.
 
Mr Shettar has been leader of the opposition in the state Assembly and he too has been president of the state unit of the BJP. Shettar was also the BJP's first Speaker in the Karnataka Assembly.
 
This Lingayat leader has had a rocky relationship at times with Mr Yeddyurappa, who picked him as Revenue Minister only after some pressure. He was most recently Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj. Mr Shettar has two sons.

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No norm flouted in Haryana land deal: Cong

Reacting to the CNN-IBN expose on Haryana land deals favouring the Rajiv Gandhi Trust, the Congress has said that no rules were bent and that land was only given on lease. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, "The land was leased to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust for eyecare. The trust does not own the land."

Singhvi claimed, "Not a single rule has been bent, the Gram Panchayat owns the land."

Maenwhile, the Haryana government has decided to relook at the acquisition of over 850 acres of land for the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust after CNN-IBN reported how the trust was given land breaking rules and regulations.

In all, 65 petitions in Punjab and Haryana High Court have now claimed the 'Gandhis as trustees' tag swung the deal.

On Tuesday the Haryana government offered to reconsider the cases of the 65 petitioners that alleged discrimination.

Villagers have asked why should they plead to seek the release of their land.

"We don't want to keep coming to the court, but we are helpless," said Sukhraj, a villager from Ullawas.

Pushed to the wall, the Haryana government told the court that the land released to the Rajiv Gandhi Trust had been taken on lease from the village Panchayat and there is no violation. All officers who came to court maintained silence on who the trustees are.

"I don't have information as far as my official records are concerned," said Town & Country Principal Secretary SS Dhillon.

"I don't know," said additional advocate general (ADG) of Haryana Narinder Hooda.

The BJP took this chance to draw comparisons with Yeddyurappa in the mining scam.

"For one acre of land, they (Congress) are asking for the head of Yeddyurappa. But here is a case, wherein their family trust, in which all the eminent members of the family are trustees, huge chunk of land have been given and thereafter released for acquisition," said BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad.

The High Court has added a rider that in case the villagers don't get justice, they can come back to the High Court. But the petitioners for now continue to allege that there has been discrimination in the way the Haryana government has released land.

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