Apple fails to halt Samsung Galaxy sales in US

A District Court judge in the US on Friday refused a preliminary injunction request by Apple to halt sales of three Galaxy S based smartphones and its Tab 10.1 tablet, stating that the Cupertino gadgeteer had failed to convince her that it was likely to succeed in achieving a permanent ban.

Without such likelihood, the judge found that there was a possibility that a wrongful market withdrawal would result. The upshot is that Samsung would be disadvantaged in the market, something she was apparently reluctant to countenance. She also found that Apple had failed to convince her that it would be “irreparably harmed” if a preliminary injunction were not granted. 

The iPad patents she believed to be such that they were likely to be found obvious, and Samsung's case that the patents were invalid, had merit.

Adding weight to the increasing realisation that lawsuits are now a defacto part of Apple's standard marketing operation, self-styled IP guru Florian Mueller was moved to pronounce “If Apple wants to defend market share against Samsung... it really needs to focus on solid technical patents instead”, something that will be less attractive than the “look and feel” suits the iPhone maker has preferred up to now.

It's said that there would be less likelihood of Apple achieving preliminary injunction bans on its competitors without the "irreparable harm" claim being accepted, a hard row for Apple to hoe when technical infringement is the point of argument. Apple might have to resort to actual advertising. Quelle horreur!


The full case between Apple and Samsung is docketed to begin July 30 2012.

Source: PC World