After the victory against those from Samsung who allowed the company Apple to block sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the US, today the company wins a big victory against Samsung and Google. Apple obtained a ban on the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus in the US, a smartphone produced by Samsung for the Google company. Apple claimed that this terminal infringes 4 patents: for the unified iOS search system that runs through Siri, for the slide to unlock system, for the autocorrection of sentences and for the data tapping system (probably the one through which the user has the possibility to choose how to open links in Android).
Apple and its lawyers convinced Judge Koh that the Galaxy Nexus likely infringes all four of the patents asserted in the preliminary injunction motion, and that all four of them are likely valid. But in the United States, injunctive relief is granted only if monetary damages are insufficient to make the right holder whole, and if other requirements are met. Courts apply the four-factor eBay v. MercExchange test. Apple's motion passed that test with respect to the "Siri patent", a patent on unified search. It must be a huge disappointment for Google to lose this lawsuit over a search patent. With respect to the other three patents at issue in this context — slide-to-unlock, data tapping and autocorrect —, Judge Koh was not convinced that those features drive consumer demand and that Samsung's likely infringement causes irreparable harm.
Although Apple invoked four patents, only the one regarding Siri proved to be the winner, a US judge giving Apple the opportunity to impose a preliminary ban on Samsung Galaxy Nexus sales. In order for this ban to take effect, those from Apple must post a bond of 96 million dollars, and I think that it won't be many hours until this happens. As soon as Apple deposits that amount, the ban takes effect and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus must be removed from sale in stores throughout the US.
Today's victory is extremely important for Apple because it hits Google's top smartphone and we can expect that soon those from Mountain View will seriously attack Apple.
