Samsung to halt tablet sales in Australia over Apple patent lawsuit

Score one for Apple, in the Land Down Under. Samsung has agreed to an Apple "request" to not sell its latest Android tablet in Australia until a patent lawsuit in that country is resolved.

According to Apple, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 infringes 10 Apple patents, including the “look and feel,” of the device and UI, and its touchscreen technology. Apple has lawsuits against Samsung in multiple countries and has also asked for a preliminary injunction in the U.S.

Samsung and Apple came to agreement during a break in a hearing. The South Korean company agreed to a) stop advertising the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia, and b) not sell the device until it wins court approval or the lawsuit is resolved.

If for some reason Apple loses its lawsuit for patent infringement, it agreed to pay Samsung damages for the lost sales time. The damages were unspecified.

Apple sued Samsung in the U.S. last year, claiming that its devices "slavishly" imitated Apple's iDevices. In addition to building its own devices, however, Samsung is a major supplier of Apple's, providing Apple's A5 processor which is currently shipping in its iPad 2s, for example.

Recently a report speculated that Apple may look to Taiwan Semiconductor for processors in the future.

Samsung sold some 10 million Galaxy S smartphones in 2010. Samsung recently announced that its Galaxy S II follow-up sold 5 million units in only 85 days.