AppleInsider Staff
A tweet and report from Dan Levine of Reuters confirmed the California court's judgment to grant Apple's request of a preliminary injunction against the Samsung handset with the U.S. sales ban to go into effect once the iPhone maker posts a nearly $96 million bond.
In handing down her ruling, Judge Koh cited U.S Patent No. U.S. Patent No. 8,086,604 regarding Siri voice commands and unified search functionality first levied against the Google and Samsung flagship handset by Apple in February.
"Apple has articulated a plausible theory of irreparable harm" due to "long-term loss of market share and losses of downstream sales," Judge Koh said.
The iPhone maker first filed for a preliminary injunction against Samsung's Galaxy Nexus in February on the back of four U.S. patents:
- U.S. Patent No. 5,946,647 for a "system and method for performing an action on a structure in computer-generated data" which was validated in Apple's U.S. International Trade Commission case against HTC.
- U.S. Patent No. 8,074,172 for a "method, system, and graphical user interface for providing word recommendations" or predictive text.
- U.S. Patent No. 8,046,721 for a system describing "unlocking a device by performing gestures on an unlock image" or the "slide to unlock" function found on iOS devices which was successfully used against Motorola in Germany.
- U.S. Patent No. 8,086,604 for a "universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system" that was the basis of Friday's ruling..
The Galaxy Nexus is Google's flagship Android handset and was created in a joint project with the company and the world's largest Android phone maker Samsung. While the device has been supplanted by more advanced offerings, including Samsung's own Galaxy S III, the Galaxy Nexus remains an important piece of Google's Android ecosystem as it is part of the search giant's family of products created in collaboration with major hardware manufacturers. Recently the Nexus line was expanded with the Asus-made Nexus 7 tablet and Nexus Q media streamer.
Once Apple posts the necessary bond to cover damages should the injunction later be found unjust, the sales ban will go into effect.
Apple spokesperson Kristin Huguet echoed the company's previous stance regarding Samsung's alleged copying of the iPhone and iPad's "look and feel." Samsung did not release a statement.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
379 Comments
Oh noes...
What a way to end the Google I/O week.
So what are the specific issues in this instance? UI stuff? Packaging? Cables/accessories? The handset hardware itself actually seems reasonably different for once!
(Obviously I realize that the whole thing exists in imitation of Apple regardless... but that’s not the same as specific claims that would lead to an injunction.)
According to Apple PR that accompanied the announcement:
"An Apple spokeswoman reiterated the same statement the company has run with since it took aim at the South Korean technology giant in a patent infringement suit last April. "It's no coincidence that Samsung's latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging," Apple said."
Pretty much a boilerplate statement since the Nexus has no resemblance at all to any Apple product, at least that I can see. The injunction must be based on a utility patent or two rather than "look and feel" as the statement from Apple would imply.
If I was to make a bet it involves the same data-tapping patent that got HTC nicked.
EDIT: Florian Mueller has posted that all four patents claimed were preliminarily judged as likely valid and infringed, but only the voice search patent qualified for a preliminary injunction.
According to Apple PR that accompanied the announcement:
"An Apple spokeswoman reiterated the same statement the company has run with since it took aim at the South Korean technology giant in a patent infringement suit last April. "It's no coincidence that Samsung's latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging," Apple said."
Pretty much a boilerplate statement since the Nexus has no resemblance at all to any Apple product, at least that I can see. The injunction must be based on a utility patent or two rather than "look and feel" as the statement from Apple would imply.
Not sure what part of...
...deals with look and feel. Or did I miss some nuance there? That patent was filed in December '04. Search via voice. Pretty solid ground there.
So what are the specific issues in this instance? UI stuff? Packaging? Cables/accessories? The handset hardware itself actually seems reasonably different for once!
(Obviously I realize that the whole thing exists in imitation of Apple regardless... but that’s not the same as specific claims that would lead to an injunction.)
I believe this is Apple's slide-to-unlock feature in Android 4.0. Most of Apple's design patents have been invalidated or thrown out in courts worldwide.