Apple granted injunction against Galaxy Nexus
updated 06:27 pm EDT, Fri June 29, 2012
Second Apple injunction versus Samsung this week
Northern District of California Judge Lucy Koh has awarded Apple a preliminary injunction against Samsung's Galaxy Nexus in court today. The injunction will take effect once Apple posts a $96 million bond in case the injunction is overturned on appeal. The Galaxy Nexus was Samsung's and Google's flagship smartphone, and non-CDMA versions remain on the reference phone list for Android 4.0. An appeal is expected.
Judge Koh passed out paper copies of the 101-page preliminary injunction ruling in court, saying that the injunction is primarily driven by the "unified search" (Siri) patent Apple has asserted in other cases. The court paperwork filed details that Apple has "articulated a plausible theory of irreparable harm" from "long-term loss of market share" and "losses of downstream sales."
Smartphone patent analyst Florian Mueller points out that Apple viewed Samsung to have infringed upon multiple patents, with the Siri unified search as one of them. Given this, Apple now could choose to move for preliminary injunctions on other Samsung products such as the Galaxy S III, and would likely prevail. In addition to having to put up additional bonds, however, Apple also risks a further delay to the start of the formal trial, but Mueller feels the delay would not be lengthy if the injunctions were grounded on a single patent.
Samsung has issued no comment on today's ruling. While not directly named in the lawsuit, Google remains involved by virtue of having developed Android, the operating system that the Galaxy Nexus uses. Google issued a statement on the injunction, saying: "We’re disappointed with this decision, but we believe the correct result will be reached as more evidence comes to light."
"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," an Apple spokesperson reiterated in reaction to the new ruling. "This kind of blatant copying is wrong and, as we've said many times before, we need to protect Apple's intellectual property when companies steal our ideas."
The injunction order can be read here, and MacNN will post a web version when it becomes available.
Dedicated MacNNer
Joined: Mar 2002
Can't wait..
for the gushing to begin:
"Judge Koh is the greatest thing since sliced bread."
"Marry me, Lucy."
Of course, when she originally ruled against apple, out came the viatrol.