Apple’s Samsung Smartphone Ban Hearing Delayed to Dec. 6
Apple must wait until Dec. 6 to argue in court for its request for a permanent ban on the U.S. sale of eight Samsung smartphones, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh said in an order Tuesday. Apple was initially set to argue for the permanent ban at a previously-scheduled Sept. 20 hearing, at which Koh was expected to issue a final decision on the outcome of Apple’s lawsuit against Samsung over design and utility patent violations.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
A federal jury in San Jose, Calif., ruled Friday that Samsung had violated multiple Apple patents related to its iPhone products. Samsung wants to argue for Koh to overthrow the jury decision, and is likely to appeal the case if she does not (CD Aug 28 p6). Apple said in a filing Monday that it wants the court to permanently ban the U.S. sale of seven phones in Samsung’s Galaxy line, plus Samsung’s Droid Charge (CD Aug. 29 p3).
Koh said Tuesday she would prefer to wait before hearing arguments for a permanent injunction. “Having considered the scope of Apple’s preliminary injunction request, the additional post-trial motions that the parties have already filed and will file, and the substantial overlap between the analysis required for Apple’s preliminary injunction motion and the parties’ various other post-trial motions, the Court believes consolidation of the briefing and hearing on the post-trial motions is appropriate,” she said in the order (http://xrl.us/bnnnjr).
The Sept. 20 hearing may still occur, but only on a Samsung request to end a preliminary injunction barring the sale of its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet, Koh ordered. The temporary ban was implemented because the Galaxy Tab 10.1 was a device Apple claimed violated its patents on its iPad tablet line. The jury found Samsung did not violate Apple’s iPad patents.