A German court has refused Apple’s request to ban Samsung’s altered Galaxy Tab 10.1N, reasoning that the tablet had been altered enough to skirt Germany’s unfair competition law, according to "Bloomberg" (http://macte.ch/QKwZV).

“Samsung has shown that it is more likely than not that the patent will be revoked because of a technology that was already on the market before the intellectual property had been filed for protection,” said Munich Regional Court Judge Andreas Mueller.

The decision comes a day after a Dusseldorf appeals court upheld Apple’s request to ban sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1, the predecessor model. Samsung began selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1N, a revised version, in Germany to get around the ban, notes "Bloomberg."

A lower Dusseldorf court is scheduled to rule next week on a separate case Apple filed over the Galaxy 10.1N, the article adds. In January Samsung lost two patent rulings against Apple in a Mannheim court.