Samsung Fails To Lift Galaxy Nexus Injunction

Samsung has suffered another blow at the hands of the US District Court for the District of Northern California, after it lost its appeal to remove the injunction banning the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus in the country.

Judge Lucy Koh denied Samsung’s motion to stay the injunction pending appeal or until the Federal Circuit has decided to stay, a decision that was widely expected.

Samsung still has a chance of persuading the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, but it will take note that the District Court found that it infringed all four of the patents that Apple asserted in the motion for a preliminary injunction.

Failed appeal

Koh granted the injunction last week because Apple was able to prove it had suffered “irreparable damages” over a patent relating to Siri. In its appeal, Samsung argued that although the patent in question covered an aspect of Siri, it could not be equated to Siri as the voice-recognition software uses more than just the technique described in the patent.

After she had made her decision, Apple posted the $95.6 million (£61.1m) bond needed to enforce the injunction.

“Siri undoubtedly is a whole lot more than this one patent, but without this patent, it’s hard to have Siri-like functionality as long as it’s interpreted as broadly as in the injunction order,” said analyst Florian Mueller. “The big question here is going to be how they will steer clear of infringement: since this is not a standard-essential patent, it’s definitely possible to build a smartphone that doesn’t infringe the ‘604 patent, but based on the court’s claim construction, it’s hard to see how a modified version of Android can still provide Siri-like unified search.”

Working around it

“Or to put it differently: unless Google removes the Siri-like unified search functionality altogether, we’re in for an enforcement dispute, and the risk for Samsung would be to be found in contempt. Tough choices,” he added.

However, according to AllThingsD, Samsung and Google say they have a software patch that they believe avoids the Apple patent that led to the injunction and plan to issue it as an over-the-air update imminently.

Google also plans to support Samsung in its next appeal and will challenge the validity of the universal search patent asserted by Apple with the US Patent and Trademark Office on the basis that universal search predates its issue.

Yesterday, Samsung failed in its bid to have the injunction banning the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 lifted, although today’s verdict was deemed to have the greater significance.

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