By: Sharon Urias, Esq.
In April 2011, Apple Inc. filed its patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung demanding $2.5 billion from its smart phone competitor. Samsung lawyers said the company was simply and legally giving consumers what they wanted: Smart phones with big screens. They also said that Samsung did not violate any of Apple’s patents in designing the company’s smart phones.
Last month, after more than a year of litigation, a jury decided that Samsung had stolen the innovative technology used by Apple in creating its iPhone and iPad, and Samsung was ordered to pay Apple $1.05 billion. As part of its lawsuit, Apple demanded that Samsung pull both its most popular cell phones and computer tablets from the U.S. market. Judge Koh did grant a sales ban of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 at the beginning of the trial, and even though the jury found the Tab did not infringe on a single patent, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is still banned from being sold in the United States.
When Samsung appealed the jury’s decision to a higher court, Judge Koh felt that overturning the ban of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 was no longer under her jurisdiction. However, the higher court has ruled that Judge Koh can rule on the sales ban, leaving it up to her to either reverse the ban or keep it in place.
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 should never have been banned in the first place since the jury found that it did not infringe on any Apple patents. With the higher court ruling, Samsung was quick to file a request to have the ban dissolved. The Samsung request filed in court basically states “that since the sole basis for the injunction (the sales ban) no longer exists, Samsung respectfully requests the Court dissolve the preliminary injunction forthwith.”
The sales ban is expected to be lifted as soon as Judge Koh rules on the matter.
These two tech giants are definitely not through with each other, as Samsung has already requested a new trial, stating that “no reasonable jury” would have sided with Apple. Apple is also going to bat by filing a new lawsuit seeking to gain $707 million more by claiming that Samsung damaged the iPhone brand.
