Apple unleashes a patent assualt of biblical proportions on Samsung, and this time the chances of Cupertino blocking the latest and greatest Android device from the U.S. market is real.
Will this new lawsuit be the one to melt Android's Ice Cream Sandwich operating system? Will it be the lawsuit to tip the scales in the ongoing global legal war between Apple and Samsung? Let's get a dun-dun and review.
Apple requested a preliminary injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Nexus in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, as part of a new federal lawsuit against Samsung. The request for injunction was filed simultaneously with the lawsuit, and is based on what FOSS Patents refers to as the "patent equivalent of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."
This is Apple’s second federal lawsuit against Samsung in the same federal court; Apple requested an injunction against Samsung in the first case, but that request was denied last December by Judge Lucy Koh. The first lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial this summer, and Judge Koh has been assigned the new lawsuit as well. This is where the similarity ends, though, as the cases are significantly different and there is a real possibility that the injunction request will be granted this time around.
They've unleashed the Four Horsemen. So be it.
Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents details eight "important reasons" why Apple may be able to convince Judge Koh to block the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Samsung is a bigger competitor to Apple now then when the original injunction request was issued, which makes the infringement claims more significant. Also, when Judge Koh denied the first inunction, she issued specific instructions that detailed what Apple would need to do to have an injunction granted; it appears Cupertino has followed those instructions with this new request. However, the biggest reason this devastating injunction might be granted is because the Four Horsemen patents the request is based on are strong technical patents, instead of the four “pussy cat” design related patents of the original request.
Will it be enough to see a U.S. injunction of Samsung’s hottest new phone, built using Android’s hottest new operating system? If so, what kind of effect would that ruling have on the remaining thirty-plus lawsuits currently in play between Samsung and Apple? We should have a ruling on the injunction from Judge Koh within the next few months, so stay tuned.
Adrian writes the weekly Law & Apple column for MacLife.com. Follow him on Twitter, subscribe to him on Facebook.
jeffh300
February 15, 2012 at 12:59pm
I guess I'd like to get a better understanding of the intent of the injunction. Is the intent to have Samsung and carriers stop selling the Galaxy Nexus? Is it to pull the Ice Cream Sandwich software off of all existing units?
