STOCKHOLM (01/24/2012) – The Court of Appeal in The Hague has ruled that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is sufficiently different from Apple’s European design patent that the tablet can remain on sale in the Netherlands.

Samsung welcomed Tuesday’s ruling, which affirmed an August 2011 ruling that the design of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is distinctive and does not infringe Apple’s intellectual property rights, a spokesman said via email. The ruling again demonstrates that Apple’s products simply do not warrant the intellectual property protections that it believes they should have, he added.

One of Apple’s core legal claims against Samsung is that its rival copied the design of Apple’s products. Apple has argued that 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.

Getting courts to agree with that has been difficult for Apple. After early Apple victories in Germany and Australia, Samsung tablets have become available in both countries.

But the patent battle between the two companies continues. Last week, the district court in Mannheim, Germany, decided that Apple did not infringe on a patent asserted by Samsung against the iPhone and iPad.

Also, Apple last week filed a new lawsuit in Düsseldorf, Germany, aimed at 10 models in Samsung’s Galaxy family of smartphones.

Apple didn’t respond to questions about Tuesday’s ruling.