US Judge denies Apple a blanket ban on Samsung device sales throughout US. Apple failed to convince the judge that continued sales of four of Samsung’s devices would cause “irreparable harm” for its tablet and smartphone markets.
After a long run up spanning several months, the feud between the South Korean electronic major Samsung Electronics and Apple Inc appears to have gone in Samsung’s favor. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 maker appears to have won the battle on causing “irreparable harm” by selling its devices in the US. However, it is likely to lose the war of patent infringement to Apple, when the trial sessions begin in March/April of 2012.
As Apple’s lawyers failed to impress US judges that Samsung has copied its design and infringed on technical patents, Samsung gets a breather to sell its tablets and smartphones for Christmas within the US.
Among the pending cases, Samsung will have to wait until 9 Dec, to know if it can sell the Galaxy Tab 10.1, despite a lower court lifting the injunction brought in by Apple against the Galaxy Tab 10.1 sales in Australia. Elsewhere, in Germany, Samsung re-launched its banned Galaxy Tab 10.1 as Galaxy Tab 10.1N with minor tweaks, but to no avail.
Reuters reported that the Judge in her ruling stated that Apple’s contention of “irreparable harm” does not hold well, since the features that Apple has accused of copying could be done by other smartphone and tablet manufacturers as well. Besides, Apple’s request for preliminary injunction too stands denied.
This legal ruling denying Apple’s request for banning four of Samsung’s devices will have a major impact on the pending cases in other parts of the world.
Analysts predict that, this reprieve gained by Samsung, could well be reversed, when Apple will approach the trial in summer of 2012 with substantial proof of infringement of technical patents and designs.
