Meanwhile, Apple’s slide-to-unlock patent may still be held invalid and the only devices covered by the injunction were Samsung’s Admire, Galaxy Nexus and Stratosphere but not its flagship Galaxy Note and Galaxy S devices. In a decision made yesterday, US District Judge Lucy Koh ruled that Samsung could no longer sell devices in the US such as the Galaxy S3.
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The initial judgement called for monetary compensation only, however a U.S. District Appeals Court disagreed, ordering Samsung to ban selling its remaining stock of phones using Apple features. Many of these supporting companies sided with Samsung while the Federal Circuit sided with Apple.
Representatives for Apple and Samsung did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It has claimed that Apple has been allowed to abuse the judicial system and the whole case will limit the freedom in consumer choices for years to come.
It seems the US court didnt take anyones side and managed to take care of both companies, said Jung Dong Joon, a patent lawyer with SU Intellectual Property in Seoul. Samsung has 30 days before those phones need to be pulled from shelves, but the “quick links” patent actually expires on February 1, which is less than two weeks away.
As ZDNet’s sister site CNET reports, legal experts, non-profit bodies and tech companies have filed amicus or “friend of the court” briefs in support of Samsung. Koh’s ruling also stops the Korean tech entity from selling code or software that infringe Apple’s patents, “and/or any feature not more than colorably different therefrom”.
Apple’s victory today is a big one for the company who has been fighting this tooth and nail since probably before 2012, but the big picture is that it just doesn’t matter any more as the offending phones from Samsung are no longer in circulation.
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Samsung was found by a jury to have infringed three “ornamental” design patents and was eventually ordered to pay $980 million in damages. In July 2015, other Silicon Valley firms including Google, Facebook, Dell and HP united to defend Samsung against Apple, demonstrating that this kind of patent dispute damages the industry. Meanwhile, Samsung has a list of supporters hoping to have the patent issue clarified.
