Apple and Samsung have been involved in a frenzied patent battle long enough. Apple recently scored a huge win against Samsung when a jury awarded it $1 billion in damages to be paid by the latter. However, Apple failed to have Samsung products banned in U.S., and Samsung has also given up on its efforts to ban Apple products in EU.
Technology litigation has been more of a reciprocal nature. If one company launches a lawsuit against the other, the latter instantly launches a lawsuit of its own against the former. So it has been with Apple and Samsung.
Although Apple scored the big win in the California case, bagging the $1 billion verdict, it had continued its battle against Samsung and sought to have 26 Samsung products banned in Europe. However, Judge Lucy Koh denied Apple the injunction it sought.
According to Judge Koh, most of the Samsung products in the list Apple provided are no longer for sale in the U.S. As for the remaining products, Samsung has tweaked their software so that they no longer infringe Apple’s patents.
Samsung had launched cases against iPad and iPhone in EU, demanding the duo to be banned over alleged patent infringement. Now that Apple has failed to have Samsung products banned in U.S., Samsung also seems to consider its efforts in EU as futile and has decided to quit seeking a sales ban injunction against Apple products.
Some have also speculated that the Korean electronics maker has done this to send out a positive message to European regulators so that they may ease up on its products. Either way, that’s one less legal front for the two companies, thus a positive development.
Source: WSJ
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