The Apple vs Samsung patent war is heating up again with the two tech giants once more trading punches. The US injunction that the Cupertino company won earlier this year on the sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus, has been reversed by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. It said that the district court in California “abused its discretion in entering an injunction”.
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This is a reversal of the ruling that U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh, who conducted the Apple v. Samsung patent trial, made in July on the 8086604 patent, a “universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system”. In her ruling in July, judge Koh said that “Apple has articulated a plausible theory of irreparable harm” due to a “long-term loss of market share” and “losses of downstream sales.”
That makes two rounds won by the South Korean tech company in that they have now managed to get the injunctions on both the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Nexus lifted. Neither of these products are still as popular sellers as the Galaxy S though. In rather humiliating fashion, Samsung argued that its Nexus was not selling as well as it should, and posed no threat to the iPhone at all anyway. They also said the unified search feature was not essential to the success of the Galaxy Nexus.
The appeals court apparently agrees, saying in it’s order “…it may very well be that the accused product would sell almost as well without incorporating the patented feature. And in that case, even if the competitive injury that results from selling the accused device is substantial, the harm that flows from the alleged infringement (the only harm that should count) is not”
Is this starting to look more and more like a “my turn your turn” bully fight?
Yes it does, as Apple was granted a delay on a sales ban imposed on some of its products by the Seoul Central District Court. In August the court found that both companies infringed on each other’s patents and ordered both companies to stop selling some of its products in Korea. Apple’s Seoul-based spokesman, Steve Park declined to comment. Samsung had no comment on the decision by the court and made no mention on whether they would seek a similar stay, said Nam Ki Yung, a Seoul-based spokesman for the company.
And all the while, normal business between the two companies still goes on unabated.
The mobile device market that these two giants are fighting about has been estimated by Bloomberg Industries to be worth US$219-billion last year.
