Apple Requests Sales Ban, Retrial In A Case Against Samsung

Apple has asked a US court for an injunction blocking particular Samsung products from sale in the country, following a ruling earlier this month that awarded Apple about $119m (£71m) for Samsung’s violation of three of Apple’s smartphone patents.

According to court documents filed late on Friday, the company also asked the US District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose division, to review the damages that were awarded in that earlier decision, or, alternatively, requested that a retrial be ordered.

Reduced damages

The Apple patents involved cover features such as “slide-to-unlock” and the “quick links” function, which searches text for information such as addresses, dates or phone numbers, in order to directly link this text to other smartphone features. The third patent covers the “auto-complete” feature.

The filings indicate Apple’s dissatisfaction with the decision, as the court awarded it far less than the $2.2bn it had requested in the case. Apple was also ordered to pay Samsung $158,000 for violating Samsung’s patents.

In the filing, Apple admitted the sales ban that it was requesting would not deprive the US market of a single Samsung product – Samsung previously said it can easily swap the products that would be affected by the ban for others that do not infringe on the patents in question. Indeed, in its filings Apple highlighted the fact that so little appreciable remedies have emerged from the case to support its request for a retrial.

Samsung said Apple’s request would harm competition.

“After the jury rejected Apple’s grossly exaggerated damages claim, Apple is once again leaning on the court to push other smartphones out of the market,” the company said in a statement. “If granted, this would stifle fair competition and limit choice for American consumers.” Samsung also filed documents in the case late last week, but these have not been unsealed.

‘Waste of resources’

Given the diminishing expectations for a significant result from the litigation, the parties may settle their differences out of court, according to industry observers.

“There may be a retrial – but in the meantime the parties will probably settle because this litigation has become a waste of resources,” said patent analyst Florian Mueller in a research note.

He said an injunction was unlikely based on the denial of Apple’s previous requests in the litigation.

A report in The Korea Times has also suggested that the two companies have agreed to resume settlement talks, citing people directly involved in the matter.

Apple recently agreed to end its smartphone patent litigation related to Google’s Motorola Mobility unit ahead of its sale to China’s Lenovo.

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