Samsung Galaxy Nexus sales blocked in US

[Oleh]

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh granted Apple a preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Nexus phone, which went on sale in the United States in mid-December.

This is the second Samsung Galaxy product blocked by Koh this week: On Tuesday, she granted Apple a preliminary injunction against U.S. sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer.

Koh granted the injunction after Apple argued that the Galaxy Nexus phone caused it irreparable harm due to long-term market-share loss and "losses of downstream sales," according to The Next Web.

Reuters reporter Dan Levine described the scene in the courtroom after the injunction was granted: The lawyer representing Samsung, John Quinn, had a long face, and Apple's attorney Mike Jacobs was smiling.

"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," an Apple spokeswoman said in an email. "This kind of blatant copying is wrong and, as we've said many times before, we need to protect Apple's intellectual property when companies steal our ideas."

Neither Samsung nor Google responded to a request for comment.

[Updated, June 29, 5:20 p.m.: Google emailed a response regarding the preliminary injunction. "We're disappointed with this decision, but we believe the correct result will be reached as more evidence comes to light," the company said.]

[For the record, June 29, 5:15 p.m.: An earlier version of this post incorrectly said the Galaxy Nexus phone began selling in the U.S. in late April. In fact, it went on sale in the U.S. in mid-December through Verizon. The Google Play store began selling it in late April.]

Source: http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-apple-samsung-galaxy-nexus-20120629,0,5421074.story

[GommeInc]

The patent system is incredibly stupid, and blocking sales as a preliminary measure is incredibly stupid too. This is either a sign that Apple is scared, or it's a huge coincidence that this action has been taken out after the announcement of Jelly Bean. Judging from the opinions over this, it's just going to hurt Apple more than it will Samsung and Google in terms of credibility.

The US and this judge should just ignore these stupid patent cases, they do more harm than good and are just so incredibly tedious.

[Fifty-Six]

I'm not too knowledgeable on all of the patent/copyright laws in the US, but it seems like Apple and Samsung are constantly going at each other for patent violations and whatnot. How many times now have the two been to court over these types of claims?

[Chippiewill]

There was an awesome case the other day where the Judge just chucked the case out before it started because Samsung and Apple were squabbling too much and the suit involved several counter-suits.

[samsaBEAR]

In reality Apple and Samsung are as bad as each other, if they spent all this time developing their phones to 'argue' with each other, rather than suing each other, everyone would be far more happier

[HotelUser]

Hahahaha, maybe I should go into patent law, is there any major player in the personal computer industry who doesn't sue each other for everything? This decision is almost as funny as the almost Xbox ban (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2404810,00.asp).

[GommeInc]

A US Court of Appeal Judge (Richard Posner) is amazing. I have a slight man crush on him :P

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jul/01/apple-google-patent-case-john-naughton-comment?INTCMP=SRCH

Basically, he believes judges are being used to do the jobs of consumers - picking out who should have competitive advantage when it should be the consumer who decides. This quote pretty much sums it all up:


Patent wrangling between technology companies has become both pathological and pointless. It is also a gross abuse of intellectual property law that uses the courts as tools for gaining competitive advantage. The people who should be deciding whether Apple's phones are better – more functional, reliable, easier to use – than Motorola's are consumers, not judges.

If both the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and S III are popular, then so be it - the customer has decided and the sales will prove this - two fingers should be stuck up in the direction of Apple with tongues sticking out. Intellectual property law in this ridiculous patent system should be completely scrapped and reworked. Protecting entire concepts rather than specific functionality was and is a recipe for disaster.

Unfortunately, as another writer has pointed out, you have to play to win with the patent system otherwise you lose, and such a mentality is damaging.

[samsaBEAR]

A US Court of Appeal Judge (Richard Posner) is amazing. I have a slight man crush on him :P

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jul/01/apple-google-patent-case-john-naughton-comment?INTCMP=SRCH

Basically, he believes judges are being used to do the jobs of consumers - picking out who should have competitive advantage when it should be the consumer who decides. This quote pretty much sums it all up:



If both the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and S III are popular, then so be it - the customer has decided and the sales will prove this - two fingers should be stuck up in the direction of Apple with tongues sticking out. Intellectual property law in this ridiculous patent system should be completely scrapped and reworked. Protecting entire concepts rather than specific functionality was and is a recipe for disaster.

Unfortunately, as another writer has pointed out, you have to play to win with the patent system otherwise you lose, and such a mentality is damaging.
When you play the Game of Patents, you win or you can't sell your product anymore. There's no middle ground.