Do you remember all the patches and workarounds that Samsung and Google had to push out to consumers last summer to remove unified search from Android devices, specifically the Samsung Galaxy Nexus? That work was due to an injunction awarded by Judge Lucy Koh to halt sales of the Galaxy Nexus which was the subject of a patent lawsuit Apple filed against Samsung. In granting the injunction halting sales, Koh determined Apple could suffer irreparable damage and loss of market share unless sales of the Galaxy Nexus were halted as long as they included a universal search function.
Reuters is now reporting that an appeals court has repealed that injunction. In their appeal, Samsung had argued that sales of the Galaxy Nexus would not harm Apple. It appears the appellate court agreed with that position and may have even gone a bit further in assessing Apple’s claims. According to the court’s document issued today, Apple failed to present evidence that tied sales of the Galaxy Nexus to this feature. The court also determined that there is no dispute that the Galaxy Nexus does not have a feature equivalent to Siri, which was a major part of the ’604 patent at issue as well as a selling point for Apple’s products, but not the Galaxy Nexus. Going even further, today’s decision indicates Apple must show people buy the Galaxy Nexus due to the presence of the claims included in the ’604 patent, which is more than just search in general or even unified search, if they want to eventually prevail.
In a bit of strong wording, the court also indicated that the district court had “abused its discretion” in issuing the preliminary injunction. The issue now goes back to the district court for reconsideration.
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