Samsung Appeals Apple’s Galaxy Nexus Injunction

Apple has been granted another preliminary injunction banning the sales of a Samsung device in the United States, this time concerning the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

The iPhone-manufacturer was able to convince The United States District Court for the Northern District of California that the Galaxy Nexus likely infringed all four of the patents it asserted and that all four are likely valid.

However an injunction was only granted because it was able to prove to District Judge Lucy Koh that monetary damages were insufficient to repair the “irreparable” damages caused by Samsung’s infringement of a Siri patent.

Galaxy Nexus called on Siri

The other three patents concerned slide-to-unlock, data tapping and autocorrect, but as these were not seen to drive consumer demand, they were not sufficient grounds for an injunction.

“The Court finds that the full extent of these losses would likely be unascertainable, difficult to calculate, and irreparable,” said the court. “Apple has adequately established the requisite causal nexus between Samsung’s alleged infringement of the ‘604 Patent and Apple’s risk of suffering irreparable harm.”

To enforce the injunction, Apple has had to post a bond of $96 million, exactly the amount that Samsung has demanded, however the Korean manufacturer has appealed the decision. It has filed a motion with the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to stay the injunction for the entire of the duration of the appeal.

Analyst Florian Mueller has suggested that Apple could not turn its attention towards the Samsung Galaxy S III, possibly with regards to the same Siri patent.

“If Apple moved for a preliminary injunction against the S III now over the Siri patent, it would be very likely to win, but it would have to accept a postponement of the trial of its first lawsuit against Samsung,” he said. “This is a tough choice to make, but a motion over only one patent wouldn’t necessarily cause a huge delay.”

The decision is the latest leg of a legal battle that has seen the two companies fight in courts around the world. Last week, the same court banned sales of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the US while it decides on the dispute between the two companies, while a Dutch court has ordered Apple to pay damages to Samsung for infringing its patents.

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