A U.S. appeals court today ordered a California court to review a Dec. 2012 decision that denied Apple's request for a U.S. injunction on certain Samsung products.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found that 'with respect to Apple's utility patents, we conclude that the district court abused its discretion in its analysis.'
The appeals court upheld the California district court's decision regarding Apple's design patents and trade dress, but ordered it to reconsider its decision on Apple's utility patents for 'bounce back' technology ('381 patent), multi-touch display ('915 patent), and double tap to zoom ('163 patent).
In Dec. 2012, Judge Lucy Koh found that Apple had not adequately demonstrated that it would suffer irreparable harm if 26 Samsung devices were not pulled from the market. The ruling stemmed from an Aug. 2012 verdict that found Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple patents with a number of its tablets and smartphones, resulting in a $1.05 billion judgment for Apple. Samsung appealed the case, but Apple asked that the court issue an injunction against the infringing products. Judge Koh declined.
By March 2013, Judge Koh ordered a new trial on 14 Samsung products and dropped more than $450 million in damages from the $1.05 billion award. Koh found that the jury awarded damages 'based on a legally impermissible theory,' so Samsung is entitled to a new trial on more than a dozen of its gadgets.
The 26 products found to infringe Apple's patents were Samsung's Captivate, Continuum, Droid Charge, Epic 4G, Exhibit 4G, Fascinate, Galaxy Ace, Galaxy Prevail, Galaxy S, Galaxy S 4G, Galaxy S II (AT&T), Galaxy S II (i9000), Galaxy Tab, Galaxy Tab 10.1 (Wi-Fi), Gem, Indulge, Infuse, Mesmerize, Nexus S 4G, Replenish, Vibrant, Galaxy S II (T-Mobile), Transform, Galaxy S Showcase, Galaxy S II (Epic 4G Touch), and Galaxy S II (Skyrocket).
While those products are no longer on the market, Apple's injunction request covered those devices 'or any other product not more than colorably different from an Infringing Product as to a feature or design found to infringe' - or newer devices that use the patented technology.
According to patent blogger Florian Mueller, today's decision could help Apple in a separate patent battle with Samsung, which is set to kick off in the same California district court next year. 'At the Apple v. Samsung trial scheduled for next spring, Apple will be asserting more powerful patents than in the first case, and after today's ruling it will then be much more likely to be able to convert liability findings by a jury into a permanent injunction,' Mueller wrote in a blog post.
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