In a 2-1 decision, the three-judge panel ruled Apple was entitled to injunctive relief against Samsung, in addition to the nearly $120 million that a lower court already awarded the iPhone maker in the case. But the appeals court found that Apple’s request for an injunction that requires Samsung to remove technology considered important to iPhone consumers was fair, observing, “The right to exclude competitors from using one’s property rights is important”.
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Apple legal finally received a little good news today.
Don’t expect this – or anytime soon – to be the end of the story, however.
The case stems from a 2014 trial in San Jose in which a jury awarded Apple more than $119 million in damages for infringement by Samsung. In Apple’s original suit, the company said Samsung “has systematically copied Apple’s innovative technology and products, features, and designs, and has deluged markets with infringing devices in an effort to usurp market share from Apple”. Apple had argued that ongoing infringement by Samsung damaged its reputation as an innovator and caused it to lose sales of devices and downstream products.
Bloomberg noted the ruling on Thursday, with the court saying Samsung can’t use “Apple’s slide-to-unlock, autocorrect and quicklinks features”. The decision sends the case back to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California for reconsideration.
“Apple does not seek to enjoin the sale of lifesaving drugs, but to prevent Samsung from profiting from the unauthorized use of infringing features in its cellphones and tablets”, wrote U.S. Federal Circuit Judge Kimberly Moore in the majority opinion.
The judge said the third patent in the case involved a spelling correction feature that Apple didn’t use. It’s another victory in Apple’s string of wins against Samsung in a battle that has gone on for years. At one point, more than 50 cases between the two companies were pending in various parts of the globe.
Judge Koh ruled in August 2014 not to place a permanent injunction against Samsung for selling certain older-model smartphones.
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Samsung is separately challenging the infringement finding and monetary damages. Those devices named by Apple included the Admire, Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy S2, Galaxy S2 Epic 4G Touch, Galaxy S2 Skyrocket, Galaxy S3, and Stratosphere. Samsung’s lawyers told the jury that Apple’s case was about its “holy war” against Google, quoting a comment from an internal email from late CEO Steve Jobs, and not truly aimed at Samsung.
