14 DAY TRIAL // The patent war between Samsung and Apple has reached a new important milestone, as a new court ruling has slapped the South Korean company with a ban on several devices in the United States.
Specifically, Apple accused Samsung of infringing on several of its patents with a number of devices sold across the world, but while an initial court order stated that that Cupertino could not obtain an injunction against Samsung’s phones, US District Judge Lucy Koh has finally ruled in favor of the iPhone maker.
Apple claims that Samsung’s devices are violating patents that cover technologies such as the slide to unlock, the automatic word correction, and the quick links, arguing that allowing these devices to remain on sale would “irreparably harm” its business.
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reopened the case back in September, and the new court order now blocks Samsung from selling all mentioned devices in the United States.
Banned old phones
And yet, this isn’t such a huge victory for Apple, mostly because the majority of Samsung devices that are banned in the US have already been discontinued. They include the first Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy Note, the Note 2, Galaxy S2 and S3, Galaxy S2 Skyrocket, and Stratosphere. The Galaxy S3 is actually the newest of them all and was launched in 2012.
“The court finds that Apple will suffer irreparable harm if Samsung continues to use its use of the infringing features, that monetary damages cannot adequately compensate Apple for this resulting irreparable harm, and that the balance of equities and public interest favor entry of a permanent injunction,” the judge said, according to CNET.
While Apple hasn’t actually obtained a huge win in terms of devices sold in the United States, the ruling actually marks a dangerous precedent in the patent wars. Companies such as Facebook, Google, and HP have all supported Samsung in this lawsuit dispute, claiming that should the judge rule in favor of Apple, it could actually be the first step towards an avalanche of similar disputes on patent infringements.
It’s estimated that smartphones rely on some 250,000 patents for their technologies, so every single violation could lead to a ban in specific markets, the aforementioned companies have stated. It remains to be seen, however, how manufacturers manage to get around this and build phones that won’t infringe on any of their rivals’ patents.