[COMMENTARY]

"Picasso had a saying - 'Good artists copy, great artists steal.' And we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas," Apple founder and former CEO Steve Jobs once said.

Samsung Electronics has been a step ahead of Apple Inc. After the U.S.-based company obtained an injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Berlin, Germany, in time for the IFA 2011, Samsung still had cards up its sleeves: the Galaxy Note, the Galaxy Tab 7.7, and the Galaxy S WiFi. And Samsung CEO Choi Gee Sung got the media mileage, as Samsung has been tagged as a possible buyer of Hewlett Packard's Web OS platform, and its best selling smartphone, the Galaxy S 2, is about to enter the U.S.

However, on Friday, Samsung was forced to pull the Galaxy Tab 7.7 off the world's largest consumer electronics show after a court in Germany promptly granted Apple's request for an injunction. This was the same court that gave a ban of the sale and promotion of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in 26 of the 27 European Union member countries, although the ruling was scaled back only to Germany on jurisdictional issues.

A Series of Court Entanglements

Apple has been accusing the South Korean company of "slavishly" copying the design and certain functionality of the iPad and the iPhone. Apple said that its rival, rather than innovating, chose to copy Apple's technology, user interface and unique style. Apple has filed patent infringement suits against Samsung in three continents.

Aside from the ruling in Germany, Apple obtained a delay of the release of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia. It also obtained a ruling banning the sale of the Samsung Galaxy S smartphones in the Netherlands. Apple is seeking an injunction in other countries.
Samsung is also set to lose millions when it is no longer a supplier to Apple. Samsung has manufactured integral parts of Apple's mobile devices, including the A5 processor for the iPad 2 and the iPhone 5. But Apple is now looking for a new supplier for the A6 multi-core processors, which will power the iPad 3 and the sixth edition of the iPhone.

Opportunity Costs

Some observers have pointed out that Samsung is winning the dispute. In the Netherlands, for example, a court dismissed Apple's claims that Samsung devices were infringing on Apple's designs. The Dutch court threw out the window Apple's "look and feel" claims. The Dutch court only found that Samsung infringed on a software-related issue, specifically, the way the Galaxy S phones is scrolled). With the ruling, Samsung just needs to issue a software update to extinguish the IP claims.

And despite the ban in select countries, Samsung, now the world's second largest smartphone vendor based on unit sales, is still poised to sell record 50 million smartphone units this year. It sold 3 million units of the Galaxy S 2 after 85 days. Samsung also has gained ground in the tablet market, according to Strategy Analytics, gaining a 16 percent share in the tablet market in the first quarter.
Apple has a 70% market share, selling 30 million units of the iPad since the launch of the first model in April 2010. Apple sold 20.34 million iPhones in the quarter ended June 25, 2011. And Apple has high margins for its aesthetically pleasing devices, ending its June quarter with more than $76.2 billion in cash and marketable securities.

On Samsung's end, in addition to the huge defense expenses from the globe trotting legal challenges by Apple, Samsung is incurring huge opportunity costs. Rather than have the Galaxy Tab and Galaxy S 2 compete with the iPad and iPhone in the market, Samsung is forced to pull its devices from shelves. Hence, Samsung is losing more revenues at a time when Samsung is already forced to cut prices and thus margins just to compete with Apple.

Who is Winning?

The setbacks, they say, could be minor, as Samsung could eventually emerge victorious if other jurisdictions enter the same ruling as the Dutch court. For the iPad, for example, Apple didn't invent the thin, black boxes that can do computing and with a touch-screen, did it? The validity of Apple's design patents are questionable given the amount of prior art, including, among other things, a 1968 movie Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, which showed a tablet device.

But the banishment, now matter how temporary, is already hurting Samsung. It's similar to squeezing the lemons and adding sugar and water and putting up a stand outside the gates of the U.S. Open, and the entrepreneurial kid is rather asked to sell his lemonade the following week, when the games are already over and the crowds have already gone.

By the time it gets rid of the lawsuits, Samsung will be facing more competition, including Nokia Oyj's Windows phones, Apple's highly anticipated iPhone 5, among others, later this year, notwithstanding Google's line-up of Motorola smartphones next year. And for the tablets, it will be facing Sony Corp.'s Tablet P and Tablet S, Amazon's Kindle tablet, and Intel Corp.'s Ultrabooks during the holiday season, and the iPad 3 early next year. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy S 2 might no longer be relevant.

It's not the outcome of the war versus Apple that is killing Samsung. It's the war itself.

FOR THE TOP TABLETS AT IFA, READ "IFA 2011: Setting Stage for iPad's Ultimate Downfall [PHOTOS]"

ALSO READ "IFA 2011: Top 10 Things We'd Love to See But Won't"

FOR OUR LATEST STORY ON iPHONE 5, read iPhone 5: All Signs Point to Early October Release