Apple's Request To Permanently Ban 26 Samsung Phones Denied

Bangalore: Apple?s bid to ban a number of Samsung devices permanently over patent infringement suits which the company earlier won, was turned down by a U.S. District Court judge. The decision came on a little more than a week after a hearing on the matter, reports CNET.

On Monday, Judge Lusy Koh, who preceded over the entire trial between two major technology players denied Apple?s bid for permanent ban on 26 Samsung devices which were under scanner for patent infringements. She said the infringing features were just part of a larger feature set, hence making a permanent ban too broad.

"The phones at issue in this case contain a broad range of features, only a small fraction of which are covered by Apple's patents," Koh wrote "Though Apple does have some interest in retaining certain features as exclusive to Apple, it does not follow that entire products must be forever banned from the market because they incorporate, among their myriad features, a few narrow protected functions."?

Both Apple and Samsung did not comment on the verdict.

In a verdict passed in August, the Jury said 26 of Samsung?s mobile devices infringed on a handful of Apple?s patents, hence awarded a $1.05 billion in damages to Apple. The Apple then filed for an injunction against a number of the infringing products, seeking their permanent ban.?? ??

The number of devices that had infringements were already no longer on sale, Koh said in her ruling, and those that are on sale had number of other features.

"It would not be equitable to deprive consumers of Samsung's infringing phones when, as explained above, only limited features of the phones have been found to infringe any of Apple's intellectual property," Koh said.

This is the first major ruling to come out after the August wrap up of the trial, however another ruling from Koh over damages tally can be expected. In a hearing earlier this month, Apple was making its bid to increase the money awarded in damages and Samsung on the other hand was arguing against it.

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