A US judge on Thursday rejected
Apple's request for a permanent sales ban in the
United States against some older Samsung
smartphones, a key setback for the iPhone maker
in its global patent battle.
US District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose,
California, ruled that Apple had not presented
enough evidence to show that its patented
features were a significant enough driver of
consumer demand to warrant an injunction.
Apple and Samsung Electronics have been
litigating for nearly three years over various
smartphone features patented by Apple, such as
the use of fingers to pinch and zoom on the
screen, as well as design elements such as the
phone's flat, black glass screen.
Apple was awarded more than $900 million by
US juries but the iPhone maker has failed to
sustain a permanent sales ban against its rival, a
far more serious threat to Samsung, which
earned $7.7 billion last quarter.
The ruling on Thursday comes ahead of another
patent trial set to begin later this month
involving newer Samsung phones, and could
frustrate any further attempt by Apple to bar the
sales of those models as well.
An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on
the order.
In a statement, Samsung said it was pleased
with the ruling. "We ... agree with its observation
that a few software features alone don't drive
consumer demand for Samsung products - rather
consumers value a multitude of features," the
company said.
Even though Samsung no longer sells the older-
model phones targeted by the injunction request,
Apple has argued in court documents that such
an order is important to prevent Samsung from
future copying with new products "not more
colorably different" than the defunct models.
Samsung, meanwhile, argued that Apple was
trying to target new Samsung phones in order to
instill fear and uncertainty among carriers and
retailers.
Samsung's phones use the Android operating
system, developed by Google.
A Northern California jury found that Samsung
infringed several Apple patents after a widely
watched 2012 trial. Following the trial, Koh
rejected Apple's request for a sales ban, but in
November, the US Court of Appeals for the
Federal Circuit ordered her to reconsider Apple's
evidence of market demand.
In her ruling on Thursday, Koh wrote that a
consumer survey by Apple likely inflated the
value that customers place on the patented
smartphone features in dispute.
"A multitude of other survey evidence not
prepared for the purpose of litigation," Koh wrote,
"indicates that numerous features that were not
tested - such as battery life, MP3 player
functionality, operating system, text messaging
options, GPS, and processor speed - are highly
important to consumers."
Apple must demonstrate more than an
insignificant amount of lost sales due to
Samsung's copying, Koh wrote, and Apple's
survey is "unpersuasive" evidence on that point.
In a separate order, Koh entered final judgment
against Samsung for about $930 million in
damages stemming the 2012 jury finding of
patent infringement. Samsung said it would
appeal that decision.
The case in US District Court, Northern District of
California is Apple Inc vs. Samsung Electronics
Co Ltd, 11-1846.
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