In a recent move, Apple Inc. (AAPL) has asked for a ban on the sale of products manufactured by Samsung Electronics Co. in the United States.
The company recently asked U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, Calif. to stall sales of 20 smartphones and tablets, which includes models such as Galaxy S 4G, and Galaxy Tab 10.1, which have been found to infringe Apple’s patent last year.
Although Apple’s bid for a sales ban on Samsung devices was rejected by Lucy Koh, a federal appeals court on Nov 18 cleared way for the iPhone maker to carry on with the injunction, which has been targeting Samsung’s products.
Samsung discontinued the sale of these models, which diminished Apple’s need to put an injunction on the same. The Federal Circuit court in Washington, in a recent statement, made it clear that Apple could modify its request to focus on infringement of patents covering smartphone features, which include multi-touch technology, an important issue in the 2012 trial.
However, the company cannot ask for block Samsung products for infringing patented designs. We believe that this is going to be a long drawn process, which will take some time to resolve. Previously, Apple won more than $290 million from Samsung in lieu of damages for a trial stemming from the same case in which Apple is pursuing the sales ban request.
Apple has always been entangled in various lawsuits involving companies such as Nokia Corp. (NOK) and HTC. Apple has also fought legal battles against Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT).
More importantly, Apple has received unfavorable verdicts in a couple of cases from the International Trade Commission (ITC). So, the final verdict might go either way.
Apple currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
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