Apple's Preliminary Injunction Request Against Samsung Devices Denied By U.S. Judge

Score one for Samsung.

A U.S. judge has denied Apple's request for a preliminary injunction against several Samsung Electronics products. A ruling in Apple's favor would have blocked Samsung from selling some of its products in the U.S..

While Apple has maintained that several devices from Samsung's Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets are "slavishly" copying Apple iPhone and iPad devices, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, didn't think Samsung's gadgets posed enough of a threat that they should be immediately banned.

"It is not clear that an injunction on Samsung's accused devices would prevent Apple from being irreparably harmed," Koh wrote, according to Reuters.

However, Koh's ruling doesn't reject Apple's patent infringement claims against the South Korea-based electronics giant.

"It's possible that Apple will get a more favorable outcome on some of the asserted rights in the main proceeding," Foss Patents speculates.

On Friday, Australia's highest court extended a ban on Samsung's Galaxy Tab in that country, Reuters reported. Though the injunction blocking sales of the device had been overturned on Wednesday, Apple managed to win a weeklong extension of the ban.

"It's no coincidence that Samsung's latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging," an Apple rep told All Things D back in April, shortly after filing suit against Samsung. "This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple's intellectual property when companies steal our ideas."

Take a look at our slideshow (below) to see a side-by-side of Apple's iDevices and Samsung's various Galaxy gadgets.

Comments

[StephenMaturin]

05:20 PM on 12/06/2011

"Irrepable harm" is typically harm that can not be compensated for in damages. The failure to get an injunction is not necessarily an indication that Apple will not succeed in the suit. It is an indication that if they succeed that they can be compensated by Samsung in $. (Perhaps the court made some sort of comment about the lack of a "serious issue to be tried" but I doubt it very much).

[Teledude]

02:18 PM on 12/05/2011

This is always funny to hear people argue about. Apple is a huge multinational monopoly now. But how did they get here? iPod wasn't the first digi music player, but it still became the standard in digital music players. iPad wasn't revolutionary, there were touchpads already in Japan and Asia, but Apple's design was better and thus it became the new standard. Macbook Air? There were loads of thin, micro netbooks around, Air simplified them. I don't like it but it's better than most netbooks out there. The Mac Pro is STILL the default for pro video/music/photo editing as is the Macbook pro. Apple didn't invent all these technologies, they just perfected them and made them the de-facto standard. The final product and price isn't the sum of it's parts and specs...The final product is the combination of it's design, usefulness, and marketing and perceived value. Apple designs and markets it's products better than anyone. Being the top dog will always have people aiming to knock them off their post, as it should be. It should create innovation. I don't like MS because it never works the way it's supposed to, never. All my Apple products just do. I pay more for Apple just as I would pay more for a Picasso rather than an replica Picasso or an original Eames as opposed to a Sam's club knockoff. They all seem to do the same things but they aren't the same, at all.

[WatchingYouBuddy]

01:15 AM on 12/07/2011

AND NOW SAMSUNG HAS SURPASSED APPLE FOR PHONES

AND ASUS HAS SURPASSED APPLE IN TABLETS.

DEAL WITH IT.

[Auz]

01:22 PM on 12/05/2011

what industry has samsung revolutionized? Tablet industry? The phone industry? The portable music player industry?

If you are so entrenched in your belief that you cannot agree that the iPhone changed the way manufacturers made phones or that the iPad changed the way tablets were made and jump started a dieing industry, then there is no use arguing.

[No Yards]

02:34 PM on 12/05/2011

So you're saying that Apple is above the law?

[WatchingYouBuddy]

01:16 AM on 12/07/2011

APPLE NOW SURPASSED ON PHONES AND TABLETS BY SAMSUNG AND ASUS

APPLE = PAYING MORE FOR LESS.

[Charles Carmichael]

01:20 PM on 12/05/2011

Apple getting a little scared that they won't be the only one selling overpriced tablets.

[No Yards]

12:13 PM on 12/05/2011

An example of Apple at its worst and why no one should be siding with this destroyer of competition.

http://9to5mac.com/2011/11/02/david-beats-goliath-apple-loses-ipad-lawsuit-against-small-android-vendor-from-spain/

Go NT-K, sue their butts off, I hope Spain has all their Spanish holdings confiscated and kicks them out of the country until they learn a few more lessons about humility.

In other news that Applington Post will not bring you, doesn't look good for Apple in its suit with Morotola either:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/rain-falls-icloud-apple-could-172226620.html

drip ... drip ... drip ...

[RobBull]

11:28 AM on 12/05/2011

Looking similar is not a "slavish copy." I've owned a few Samsung phones and the only people that confuse them with an iPhone are my parents' age and to many of them every smart phone is an iPhone. As far as the interface, I'd love to see Samsung move away from Touchwiz. While it's aesthetically pleasing, it slows the phone down too much. Just because the icons are square with rounded corners does not mean they look like the iOS icons, because they do not. These lawsuits are frivolous and the only place that Apple has won has been in countries that are notoriously pro-patent to the point of being ridiculous.

[Raymond Hietapakka]

10:34 AM on 12/05/2011

Lots of marketing jingoism behind some chinese pc companys with an american front, able to have all your data on President-Non-Elect's Hu's desk, even before yours.

[bring in swat]

10:18 AM on 12/05/2011

yawn!

[etiennemacchias]

10:02 AM on 12/05/2011

The bias in this article is quite blatant. That's some fine journalism, Catharine.

[booshh]

10:47 AM on 12/05/2011

Really. It seems like an article of quotes. The author seems to have succeeded to making Apple look like temper-tanturm throwing crybabies. Is that the biases of which you speak?

[Auz]

09:33 AM on 12/05/2011

Apple vs. Samsung: A visual Guide to Apple's IP claims (Please read)

HARDWARE DESIGN: (If link doesn't work, cut-and-paste into search)
http://peanutbuttereggdirt.com/e/custom/Apple-vs-Samsung-1-Hardware-Design.html

INTERFACE ICONS: (If link doesn't work, cut-and-paste into search)
http://peanutbuttereggdirt.com/e/custom/Apple-vs-Samsung-1-Hardware-Design.html

PACKAGE DESIGN: (If link doesn't work, cut-and-paste into search)
http://peanutbuttereggdirt.com/e/custom/Apple-vs-Samsung-3-Package-Design.html

Wait, there's more!!!

Tabs before and after the iPad: (If link doesn't work, cut-and-paste into search)
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2011/08/tabletafteripad.jpg

Just a rectangular slate with rounded edges, right? Funny how no one figured that out prior to the iPad.

If we're going to have an honest discussion, let's at least argue over the facts at hand.
Apple is not suing Samsung because they're making tablets; if that were the case, they'd be suing Amazon, HP, B&N, etc, but they're not.

[bring in swat]

10:20 AM on 12/05/2011

shall we post all of the point by points for apple snagging others ideas over the years, we could start with their first product and move on down the decades. they became and continue to be patent trolls...that's their focus.

[No Yards]

10:25 AM on 12/05/2011

Look, the judge jruled that Apples iPhone and iPad design patents are copied (as much as Samsungs designs are copied) from public domain designs.

Meaning there is no patent desing protection for Apple on the iPhone or iPad. Others can take the same public domain designs and use them as a basis for their own design.

Yes, those designs will look similar to Apples, they are after all based on the same public domain design.

Apple can't copy a public domain design and then claim that no one else can copy from that same public domain design, that's not how things work in the non "Apple distortion field" world.

Apple basically took an public domain football design added some obvious decorations and tried to re-patent the public domain design. They are about to be slapped down in that illegitimate attempt at stealing from the public domain.

So all you examples of how Samsung looks like Apple, they are meaningless. Samsung is perfectly within their rights to look like Apple (or rather to look like the public domain design that apple used to create their products) as is any cheap Chinese knock off company in the word

Here's to Apple fragmentation, may it knock some sense into fanbois.

[bring in swat]

10:43 AM on 12/05/2011

Fanned!

[RobBull]

12:26 PM on 12/05/2011

Fanned as well. If the auto industry had these types of lawsuits, dealerships would be empty. Take, for example, the Lexus RX-300 series and the Mazda CX-7 and CX-9. Not only are the exteriors similar, save for the headlights, but the layout of the dash and center consoles is almost identical if you get the fully loaded version of the Mazda. The GPS units are identical in size and shape and are also mounted in the same spot. Is Toyota suing Mazda? No, they are not for several reasons. First, there are enough differences between the two SUV's that the average consumer can easily distinguish between the two, just as the average consumer can distinguish between the electronic devices from the two manufacturers. Also, Toyota understands that the lawsuits would drag on for ages, cost piles of cash and probably result in a negative outcome (no injunction, no financial settlement). Apple would love to see Samsung go back to producing low end and middle of the road devices instead of flagship phones and tablets. The reason Apple is targeting Samsung is that they control their supply chain and their devices have been extremely popular with consumers.

[ricchh]

09:20 AM on 12/05/2011

Asia has always stolen American technology. They do not invent anything on their own.

[No Yards]

10:29 AM on 12/05/2011

LOL, really? The judge just ruled that the Apple iPhone design was a rip off of a previous (now public domain) Sharp Electronics phone design ... Sharp being a Japanese company, and last I checked Japan was an Asian country.

[bring in swat]

10:47 AM on 12/05/2011

awesome!!! not to mention american business was warned of this type of piracy, by moving manufacturing to these countries in order to Increase Profits...now...well the "genius" of corporatism/greed is hitting home.

[bring in swat]

10:30 AM on 12/05/2011

and we've stolen as much...besides they have 'invented' many things on their own.
american manufacturing was warned that this would happen when they chose to stuff shareholders pockets by using slaves to build their products for prices that were impossible to compete with sans slavery. and now, the short sited genius wisdom of corporatism and good ole amerikan greed has come back to bite them in the @ss! they get what they deserve...just wait until we get in to a war with china or one of their allies and our computerized weaponry manufactured by China magically fails to work..who knew?

[wonderYrednow]

01:50 PM on 12/05/2011

But at least we 'invented' the A-bomb....

[Auz]

09:20 AM on 12/05/2011

Samsung tablet before the iPhone/iPad:
[Samsung Q1 UMPC - 2007]
http://reviews.cnet.com/tablet-pcs/samsung-q1-ultramobile-pc/4505-3126_7-31781057.html

Samsung tablet after the iPhone/iPad:
[Samsung Galaxy tab - 2010]
http://www.samsung.com/global/microsite/galaxytab/10.1/index.html

[Storymark]

10:50 AM on 12/05/2011

Okay, we get it. Apple pays you well.

[Auz]

01:13 PM on 12/05/2011

lol, I guessed you'd be inclined to surmise as much, especially when presented with the facts

[Auz]

08:38 AM on 12/05/2011

How tablets looked before and after the iPad:

http://www­.idownload­blog.com/2­011/08/19/­tablets-be­fore-after­-ipad/ (just rounded corners, right?)

Individuals saying that tabs were being made before the iPad are correct (Samsung Q1 UMPC [2007]), but that is not why Apple is suing Samsung. If it were the case, Apple would be suing Amazon, HP, B&N, Motorolla, etc.

Why apple is suing samsung:

FRONT 1: HARDWARE DESIGN
– http://pea­­nutbutter­e­ggdirt.c­om­/e/cust­om/­Apple-­vs-S­amsun­g-1-H­ardw­are-De­sig­n.html

FRONT 2: INTERFACE ICONS
– http://pea­­nutbutter­e­ggdirt.c­om­/e/cust­om/­Apple-­vs-S­amsun­g-2-I­nter­face-I­con­s.html

FRONT 3: PACKAGE DESIGN
– http://pea­­nutbutter­e­ggdirt.c­om­/e/cust­om/­Apple-­vs-S­amsun­g-3-P­acka­ge-Des­ign­.html

[Auz]

09:00 AM on 12/05/2011

how tabs looked before the iPad, visit this site:
http://osx­daily.com/­2011/08/18­/tablet-de­sign-befor­e-after-th­e-ipad/

Samsung infringed upon Apple's designs on three fronts:
FRONT 1: HARDWARE DESIGN
– http://pea­nutbuttere­ggdirt.com­/e/custom/­Apple-vs-S­amsung-1-H­ardware-De­sign.html
FRONT 2: INTERFACE ICONS
– http://pea­nutbuttere­ggdirt.com­/e/custom/­Apple-vs-S­amsung-2-I­nterface-I­cons.html
FRONT 3: PACKAGE DESIGN
– http://pea­nutbuttere­ggdirt.com­/e/custom/­Apple-vs-S­amsung-3-P­ackage-Des­ign.html

[Transverseangle]

08:20 AM on 12/05/2011

Choose from a made in China or South Korea, interesting dilemma.

[bring in swat]

10:15 AM on 12/05/2011

the china one is from a US company the South Korean one is from....A South Korean company that believes in employing their own.

[Transverseangle]

08:53 AM on 12/06/2011

LOL, and what does the American one believe in employing?

[Mitchman57]

08:05 AM on 12/05/2011

If Apple doesn't soon open the gates and allow other makers to access the "i" system, they will be left behind.

By a film camera and drop any brand of film into it. By a toaster and drop any brand of bread into it. By a car and gas it up with any brand of gasoline. By a P.C. and run anyone's software on it. Light bulbs, ink-jet printers......

Has anyone bought a TV from the cable company or Dish TV lately?

By an ipad...... handcuffs.

Americans are choice-friendly. Why isn't Apple? (don't answer, it's a rhetorical Q)

[lightbreeze]

09:15 AM on 12/05/2011

I don't think it's so much that Apple will suffer from a closed environment. I think they're far more vulnerable on the ability of consumers to choose different platforms when the "look and feel" of all OSs becomes standardized (in the same way that controls in a car or a TV remote are generally standardized). At that point, what matters is the content one can access, and with information moving to the cloud and accessible from all platforms, it seriously levels the playing field.

These are long-term issues. Someday we'll likely own multiple tablets and be making our 10th purchase, and brand identity won't be any more important than choosing to become a Ford/Chevrolet/Toyota car owner or a Sony/Samsung/LG TV owner. While there are still some folks that are diehard, single brand owners, far more are very willing to consider alternate brands based on new features/qualities/technologies.

I'm 100% on the side of consumers on any issues that affect look/feel, and against Apple preventing adoption of features/style that works best for all tablet owners. It's consumers that need to win, not Apple. The best thing that can happen in any industry is to have strong competitors because it prevents any of them from limiting choice/innovation. Apple's recent rise is the best thing that could have happened to MSFT. Without Apple they were becoming lazy in execution and unfocused in strategy. MSFT will be back with better products and again consumers win.