U.S appeals court okays Apple's bid against Samsung tablet

The scene of action for the latest battle in the long standing Apple vs Samsung lawsuit is the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in California, where folks from Apple are smiling, fresh off a small but crucial win. According to Foss Patents, an earlier failed attempt (in December) by Apple to secure a preliminary injunction against Samsung Electronics against four Samsung products over four intellectual property rights (three design patents and one software patent) has now met with reasonable success. Reports now confirm that the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in California admitted that a judge at the District court in California passed an erroneous judgment when a ruling that stated “Apple failed to show that it was likely to succeed on the merits and sent the case back to the district court for further review” was passed. Now, Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in California has ruled that Apple can bid for an immediate injunction to block the sale of some tablet computers made by Samsung based on the allegations of an infringement of one patent.

A ban in the offing?

Monday’s ruling, according to reports pertains to the design of Samsung’s ambitious Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet. Elaborating further, the report added, “The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California had found that the design patent could well be challenged as “obvious”, which means it should never have been granted. The appeals court disagreed.” Foss Patents adds that the aforementioned design patent, (U.S. Patent No. D504,889) is now likely to, and not necessary, to compulsorily come under Apple’s axe. The post on Foss Patents further elaborated, “However, Samsung will likely be able to work around any such ruling by modifying its design, like it did in Germany, where it launched a modified version named Galaxy Tab 10.1N. That doesn’t mean that enforcement is useless: anything that Apple can force Samsung to do to make its products more distinguishable from Apple’s products is a good thing for Cupertino.”

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Reports also confirm that the appeals court ruled that the lower court “was right to deny Apple requested preliminary injunctions which would have stopped the sale of Samsung smartphones and tablets based on three other patents.”

To know all about the Apple vs Samsung lawsuit, click here.

Reuters