If you’re a New Jersey technology junkie, you probably fall into one of two camps: You either love all things Mac-related, or you find Apple’s products to be overpriced and overrated. If you’re in the first category, you won’t be surprised that Apple Inc., one of technology’s largest companies, is proving tough to beat in court with its latest victory in the Apple, Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. case.
The corporation has been going head-to-head with Samsung Electronics in an intellectual property battle over the Galaxy Nexus phone. Most recently, a district judge awarded Apple with its second win in court against Samsung.
Apple is taking legal action against Samsung in countries across the globe, citing violations of patents for cellphone and other mobile electronic items. Most recently, the battle has focused on the Galaxy Nexus smartphone and the Galaxy Tab 10.1, which directly compete with Apple products such as the iPad and iPhone, but run on the Android system created by Google, Inc.
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 was banned before the trial, and now the judge has placed a second pre-trial ban on the Galaxy Nexus phone. Along with the injunction, Apple is required to pay $95 million in bond to make sure damages will be paid to Samsung if the case is dubbed a wrongful decision.
This is positive news for Apple, especially after a judge in Chicago previously determined the company could not sue Google for its Motorola Mobility and ended the case. Apple has been attempting to sue Google over patent violations since 2010, and has received some criticism about using patents as an excuse for wanting to create a monopoly.
However, a spokeswoman for Apple claims Samsung is taking a large percentage of sales of smartphones from Apple by using patents of the company. She added Samsung also is attempting to do so by copying the design of Apple products.
The judge presiding over the next case will rule whether she wants to temporarily stop the ban of the Galaxy Tab and Galaxy Nexus until an appeal decision is made.
Source: Reuters, “Apple scores second legal win vs Samsung in a week,” Dan Levine, June 29, 2012