Apple Lands Ban on Galaxy Nexus in USA
You like what you see at Google's IO developer conference? Hoping to buy a new Galaxy Nexus to enjoy the wonders of Jelly Bean with? Well, you may be out of luck. Apple has scored a preliminary ban on sales of the Galaxy Nexus taking place in the United States. This is likely to be a temporary thing, but it is still a little terrifying.
The ban comes courtesy of Judge Jucy Koh, who has been presiding over the case. Last week she banned sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1, though because that isn't exactly a popular tablet anymore we didn't report on it. But now she is showing her bite by blocking sales of the Galaxy Nexus, and now things are getting serious.
This is only a preliminary ban put in place while the trial commences. It exists in case Samsung is found at fault and a ban is deemed necessary. It's not all dreary news, however. If Samsung wins the case then the company will score a $95 million bond funded by Apple meant to cover potential losses from not having a hot phone on the market. It won't help us get our Jelly Bean on, but at least Samsung wouldn't be out of luck. Of course, considering how rarely preliminary bans are granted, this hardly bodes well for Samsung.
Apparently the patent in question has to do with a unified search patent that Apple has related to Siri. There are four patents in question here, and Koh seems to think the related cases have merit, but that is the one that warrants damages.
Samsung, of course, plans on appealing.
The patent wars are getting rougher every single day, and people are clearly getting sick of it. You might remember a case not too long ago where Judge Posner ruled that Apple cannot seek an injunction against Motorola. In his statements he appeared quite frustrated with Apple. Hopefully something gives. This isn't sustainable and it makes for an incredibly hostile entrepreneurial environment. If we want the USA to keep its last edge, we need to fix our patent system.
| Template by