Samsung Galaxy Nexus Ban Overturned By US Appeals Court

Samsung has been given a boost in its ongoing patent war with Apple after the US Court of Appeals overturned a ban on the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus in the country.

Apple won the injunction back in June, but the court ruled the United States District Court for the Northern District of California had “abused its discretion.”

The Korean manufacturer had been granted a temporary stay on the preliminary injunction back in June, however, minimising the impact of the ban.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus ban lifted

“We welcome this reversal by the Federal Circuit which confirms that the role of patent law is to protect innovation and not to unreasonably stifle competition and restrict consumer choice,” said Samsung. “We will continue to take all appropriate measures to ensure the availability of our innovative products.”

The injunction was awarded because Apple was able to prove that it had suffered “irreparable damages” over a patent related to voice recognition software Siri. The iPhone-manufacturer was able to convince Lucy Koh that monetary damages were an insufficient remedy.

Samsung had a similar ban on the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 lifted earlier this month, but faces an anxious wait to see if any of its other devices will be banned in the US.

In August, the same court found that Samsung had infringed several of Apple’s design and software patents. It ordered the Korean manufacturer to pay Apple just over $1 billion (£664m) in damages. The figure was less than the $2.5 billion (£1.6bn) that it was demanding, but still represented a significant blow to Samsung.

Apple now wants the Galaxy S 4G, Galaxy S2 AT&T model, Galaxy S2 Skyrocket, Galaxy S2 T-Mobile model, Galaxy S2 Epic 4G, Galaxy S Showcase, Droid Charge and Galaxy Prevail to be banned in the US. It had been expected that the hearing would take place last month, but a judge has rearranged it until just before Christmas.

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