Apple won a significant victory on Tuesday in its campaign against Samsung Electronics over alleged intellectual-property infringements.Samsung has been ordered to remove the Galaxy Tab 10.1, a touchscreen tablet computer that runs Google’s Android software, from stores in Europe as part of an ongoing legal dispute between its creator and Apple, which makes the iPad.

The preliminary injunction from a Dusseldorf, Germany, district court extends to 26 countries that belong to the European Union, excluding the Netherlands. Certain laws in the Netherlands differ from those in the other nations, but Apple has filed a separate lawsuit in courts there, Florian Mueller, an analyst covering intellectual-property law, wrote on his blog.”Preliminary injunctions in Germany take immediate effect, though an EU-wide one may require additional registrations in other countries,” Mueller wrote.

While the decision could be reversed, the ban on sales of the Galaxy Tab could last more than a year, he said.The block only affects the Samsung tablet with a 10.1-inch touchscreen, not the various 7-inch versions. Apple CEO Steve Jobs has panned 7-inch tablets, calling them “tweeners,” and saying, “We think the 10-inch screen size is the minimum screen size required to make great tablet apps.”An Apple spokeswoman confirmed that the company had received notice of the injunction ruling.

A Samsung spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

“It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging,” Apple has said. “This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.”Apple requested a similar injunction against Samsung in an Australia federal court a week ago.

As a result, Samsung postponed the launch of its Galaxy Tab 10.1 there.”A Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 for the Australian market will be released in the near future,” Samsung said in a statement. “Samsung will continue to actively defend and protect our intellectual property to ensure our continued innovation and growth in the mobile communication business.”Apple is also pursuing its infringement claims in other countries, including in U.S. courts.

In addition to the legal victory in Europe, Apple received more good news on Tuesday. The Cupertino, California, computer maker briefly surpassed Exxon Mobil in market capitalization to become the most valuable public company in the world.

Apple’s market capitalization first exceeded the market capitalization of its arch nemesis, Microsoft, almost an year back.

Right now, it’s almost $120 billion ahead of Microsoft.

It had been the second most valuable company in the world for a few months now, and had closing in on its target – Exxon Mobil, the number one corporation in the world by market cap.

Today, it has surpassed Exxon Mobil, to become the most valuable company in the world. Apple now has a market capitalization of $349.49 billion, compared to Exxon Mobil’s market cap of $349.42 billion.

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Amazon.com Inc. plans to introduce a tablet computer before October, said people familiar with the matter, in a move that will heighten the online retailer’s rivalry with Apple Inc.

The Seattle-based company will also release two updated versions of its popular Kindle electronic reader in the third quarter of the year, the people said. One will be a touch-screen device. The other won’t have a touch screen, but will be an improved and cheaper adaptation of the current Kindle, said people who have seen the device.

An Amazon spokesman didn’t return requests for comment. The company’s chief executive, Jeff Bezos, has hinted about a forthcoming tablet in recent media appearances.

The new tablet will intensify a growing clash between Amazon and Apple. The two tech-industry titans are already fighting for customers for their respective digital book, music and video businesses. Now Amazon will have a device that will compete closely against Apple’s popular iPad, as well as other tablets such as Samsung Electronic Co.’s Galaxy Tab.

The Amazon tablet will have a roughly nine-inch screen, people familiar with the product said, and will run on Google Inc.’s Android operating system. The online retailer isn’t designing the device itself, but is outsourcing production to an Asian manufacturer, these people said.

The device will not have a camera, said one person familiar with it.

The tablet will allow Amazon customers to easily watch videos, read electronic books and listen to digital music they purchase or rent from the online retailer.

The two new black-and-white Kindle electronic readers will use the same technology as in the previous Kindles, in which the screens mimic the appearance of ink on paper. The touch-screen version will compete against similar devices that two other e-reader makers, Barnes & Noble Inc. and Kobo Inc., released in May.

Amazon on Wednesday also lowered the price of its current Kindle. The version with 3G Internet access now costs $139, down from $164, but it comes with ads sponsored by AT&T Inc. The cost of the ad-free version remains at $189.

Amazon has said the Kindle is its best-selling product of all time, but it hasn’t released sales figures. Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey said there are about 7.5 million Kindles in the U.S., which gives Amazon a two-thirds share of the $1 billion digital-book market.

An Apple Inc store employee has started a union in a rare move at a company known for its near-fanatical following and cutting-edge mystique.

Cory Moll, a part-time employee at an Apple store in San Francisco, is working to form a union to fight for better wages and benefits and to address what he says are unfair practices in the company’s glass-and-steel retail showrooms.

“The core issues definitely involve compensation, pay, benefits,” Moll said, adding that he decided to go public with the union to encourage other employees to come forward.

While unions are strong in industries like trucking and autos, they are largely unheard of in Silicon Valley companies, which pride themselves on being quick-footed and having the flexibility to hire and fire.

Moll’s budding campaign is also unusual given Apple’s reputation for fierce employee loyalty.

Apple has more than 30,000 retail employees in its 325 stores around the world.

Moll, who has been working at Apple for four years, said he makes $14 an hour at the San Francisco Apple store. The minimum wage for 2011 in San Francisco, one of the most expensive cities in the United States, is $9.92 an hour.

The 30-year-old employee primarily communicates with other Apple store employees through Twitter, Facebook and the “Apple Retail Workers Union” website, which he created in May, without disclosing his name.

Moll has received little public support from employees so far, though he said he has emails expressing support.

An Apple representative confirmed Moll is an employee, but declined to comment on the union effort.

“It’s kind of a feeling of David versus Goliath,” Moll said of trying to start a union movement in a $320 billion company run by its iconic co-founder, Steve Jobs.

The would-be Apple union’s website is sparse, but states: “At Apple, our most important resource, our soul, is our people. Our Time Has Come.”

Union members as a percentage of U.S. wage and salary workers declined from 20.1 percent in 1983 to 11.9 percent last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Moll said the movement is only in its infancy.

“There’s definitely no call to action yet,” he said. “Right now what I hope to gain is to get people to start talking about it and get comfortable with it.”

Courtesy Reuters

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1.  Five days into Winter and record snow fall has blanketed much of the United States much to the disappointment of liberals like Al Gore who has made 100′s of millions of dollars scaring the world with his nonsense of melting ice caps.

2.  Charlie Sheen appears to have relapsed as Aspen police were called out at 8:34 Christmas Day.  Sheen was arrested for felony domestic battery after being up all night boozing. Sheen, who has been an outspoken critic of war and supporter of diplomacy,  should take some of his own advice.

3.  Apple stock hit an all-time high on Thursday as rumors are circulating that the innovative company will be announcing “iPad”– a tablet computer that is said to operate on the iPhone software and is said to be a computer, digital book reader, and portable video device all wrapped up in one.  Of interesting note, Apple is also rumored to have purchased the domain name, iSlate.com.  Looks like the Kindel will become so yesterday after the iPad is launched if the rumors prove to be true.

4.  Retailers are expecting a strong December 26th since the day after Christmas falls on a Saturday.  Best Buy and Walmart are extending their holiday discounts in an effort to lure more shopper into their stores.  Take it from me, the best deals can be found after the third week of January.

5.  Terror in the skies over the United States struck again on Christmas as a radical Muslim attempted to kill hundreds of Christians on their most holy of days.  Saved by a miracle, the plane was able to land safely and the terrorist oppressed gentleman was taken into custody where he will surely be provided his Miranda rights,  an attorney paid for by US taxpayers,  his Koran, hot cooked meals appropriate for his faith, a warm bed, and a comfortable living environment.