Think Again —

Sales ban on Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be reconsidered

An appeals court passed the decision on injunction back to Judge Koh.

Samsung won permission Friday from the US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington to have the three-month-long preliminary injunction against its Galaxy Tab 10.1 reconsidered, Reuters reported. The recent high-profile trial between Apple and Samsung left Samsung holding a huge bill for patent infringement of Apple’s iPhone and iPad products, but the Galaxy Tab injunction was based on a patent that the jury found had not been infringed by the Tab.

Since Samsung had appealed to a higher court to reverse the injunction decision in June before the jury’s decision in August, Judge Koh said she could not reverse her decision immediately after the trial. Now that the Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of a reconsideration, Judge Koh can rule on whether the sales ban stands. Koh does not necessarily have to reverse her preliminary injunction, but she has said she would do so provided she regains jurisdiction.

After the jury found Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 was not in violation of Apple’s D504,889 patent—the patent the injunction was based on—Apple filed a motion seeking a new judgment that the Tab 10.1 "infringes and dilutes Apple’s protectable iPad Trade Dress; that the Tab 10.1 infringes the D’889 patent; and that Samsung’s accused smartphones dilute Apple’s combination iPhone Trade Dress." The jury found that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 did infringe Apple patents, but not the one the injunction was based on. Samsung seems likely to win this particular point, because Koh previously said, "the sole basis for the June 26 Preliminary Injunction no longer exists."

Since the landmark jury trial in August, Apple and Samsung have been filing smaller appeals and motions to try to work out more favorable post-trial rulings for each. Last week, Apple asked for $707 million in additional damages from Samsung on top of the $1.05 billion originally awarded by the jury. Samsung asked for a re-trial due to the time constraints on argument and testimony that the Judge had ordered during the trial. Samsung is also arguing that the jury committed misconduct.

Channel Ars Technica