It's been a dizzying week in Apple's legal adventures with Samsung finally having something go their way in the U.S. However, their battles Down Under just seem to be getting worse.
Oh, and that huge ITC ruling? That first major final decision in any of Apple’s patent battles? The one that looks to set the bar for the rest of the cases worldwide? The one that was supposed to come down yesterday? That one was postponed.
Grab some egg nog, sit back, and lets roll through the latest Law & Apple. Cue the "dun dun."
Reuters reports that United States District Judge Lucy Koh denied Apple’s request this past Friday to block the sale of Galaxy smartphones and tablets in the U.S. In the ruling, Koh stated that Apple failed to convince the court "that an injunction on Samsung's accused devices would prevent Apple from being irreparably harmed."
The ruling is a win for beleaguered Samsung, as the company can continue to sell its Galaxy line during the holiday season. The decision does not, however, indicate how the final ruling of the case will go. Apple is still very much in a position to prevail overall.
I hope we remembered to pack the Galaxy devices for North America. So hard to keep up...
In fact, Koh stated in her decision that Apple has established a likelihood of success on the merits at trial, specifically with regard to claims against the Galaxy smartphones. She also added that Apple would likely prove that Samsung was deliberately copying its patents.
Christopher V. Carani, chair of the American Bar Association’s Design Rights committee, pointed out that a key statement from Koh earlier in the case may have burst all of Cupertino’s tablet patent dreams. In his article, Carani insists that Koh believes the iPad design patent is invalid, and if Samsung ponies up with the 1994 Knight Rider tablet it could very well be bad news for Cupertino.
Last week, Samsung was told it could finally put the Samsung Galaxy 10.1 back on store shelves as soon as Friday. But Apple still had a window of opportunity to appeal. As expected, the Galaxy 10.1 still isn't available for sale.
Bloomberg is reporting that Australian High Court Justice John Dyson Heydon extended the ban on the Galaxy 10.1 another week to December 9, when the court will consider Apple’s request for permission to appeal.
The delay, continuing a ban on the Galaxy 10.1 that has been in place in Australia since mid-October, cost Samsung another critical holiday shopping weekend. Samsung previously stated that if the Galaxy 10.1 cannot launch before Christmas, the company would not release the device in Australia at all.
You wanted a Galaxy Tab my dear? I'll bring you an iPad instead, have no fear!
Samsung had planned a huge release for the Galaxy Tab last Friday and to begin importing the product into Australia over the weekend. The company's lawyer Katrina Howard added that in this critical time, any day that the device is on the shelves counts for profits. "Even a short release of the product can cause irreversible harm to Apple," said Apple lawyer Stephen Burley.
Well, the big ruling we've been waiting for from the United States International Trade Commission regarding Apple’s complaint against HTC was supposed to come down today, but according to Bloomberg it has been postponed until December 14. Shucks! This ruling will be the first final verdict from any judicial body in any of the global patent battles Apple is waging against Android phone manufacturers. So, understandably, the world -- including Google, Motorola, Samsung, and of course HTC -- is watching.
Apple claims that HTC’s Android phones infringe on four Apple patents, including one that enables software to detect telephone numbers in emails and allow users to save them to address books without actually dialing the numbers. If the ITC rules for Apple, it could mean a complete ban on U.S. imports of HTC devices. HTC became the biggest U.S. smartphone manufacturer this past third quarter, and although the company projects HTC to fall from its perch next quarter regardless of the ruling, blocking the U.S. market would be catastrophic for the Taiwan-based company.
Even if the ITC finds that HTC violated Apple’s patents, there’s no guarantee that the commission will ban the HTC phones. The ITC has to also consider the impact to the market and to the consumer before taking such action. T-Mobile, notably absent from the carriers offering the iPhone, sided with HTC in an October 6 filing with the ITC. T-Mobile stated that, "An ever-increasing majority of T-Mobile’s U.S. customers prefer the Android platform and would be unable to purchase adequate substitutes in the near-term if HTC’s Android smartphones were excluded."
However, the ITC’s staff, which acts as a third party on behalf of the public in certain cases, has said that banning the phones is "unlikely to have any significant impact on the public interest" and that consumer demand for smartphones could be met by other Android manufacturers as well as Apple.
That's pretty much what Cupertino is saying, too.
Adrian writes the weekly Law & Apple column for MacLife.com. You can follow him on Twitter or subscribe to him on Facebook, if you want to.
