 |
(Yonhap News) |
Samsung Electronics is gaining momentum in its patent battle with Apple after a U.S. court rejected the iPhone maker’s request for a preliminary injunction against the sale of its mobile devices.
The South Korean tech giant scored the legal victory on Friday following a win in its appeal against a sales ban of its tablet PCs in Australia last week.
Apple sued Samsung in the U.S. in April, saying Samsung’s Galaxy line of mobile phones and tablets “slavishly” copies its iPhone and iPad.
But on Friday, a U.S District Court in San Jose, California, rejected Apple’s bid to ban sales of Samsung’s three Galaxy smartphones and the Galaxy Tab 10.1.
The ruling questioned the validity of Apple’s design patents, citing pre-existing tablet PCs with similar designs as the iPad.
It also recognized functional reasons for having to design tablet PCs with, for example, a screen taking up most of the space on the front.
“It is not clear that an injunction on Samsung’s accused devices would prevent Apple from being irreparably harmed,” Judge Lucy Koh said in the ruling.
Samsung welcomed the decision, which is expected to give crucial leverage to the electronics giant in the coming legal disputes with Apple.
“This ruling confirms our long-held view that Apple’s arguments lack merit,” Samsung said in a statement.
“In particular, the court has recognized that Samsung has raised substantial questions about the validity of certain of Apple’s design patents.”
Apple reiterated its view.
“This kind of blatant copying is wrong,” said spokesperson Steve Park.
“It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and the iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface, and even the packaging.”
The two rivals, who also are business partners, are currently engaged in about 30 different patent lawsuits in nine countries.
After four consecutive losses in Europe including the Netherlands and Germany, Samsung won its first on Nov. 30 in its appeal against Apple’s ban on its sales of tablet PCs in Australia.
By Lee Ji-yoon (
jylee@heraldcorp.com)
