Apple Fails to Win U.S. Injunction Against Samsung

Late last week, a U.S. judge Lucy Koh declined to award a preliminary injunction over Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets in the United States. The Judge admitted that Samsung infringed some of Apple's patents, but she declined to issue a ban, because of a lack of evidences.

In her ruling, Koh wrote that for some of the smartphones, "Apple has established a likelihood of success on the merits at trial."

Koh added that Apple would likely prove Samsung infringed one of its tablet patents. However, Apple had not shown that it was likely to overcome Samsung's challenges to the patent's validity, Koh wrote.

Apple must demonstrate both infringement and validity to succeed in its lawsuit.

Interestingly, Apple has licensed to third parties one key iOS patent covering the "scrollback" feature displaying the linen texture when elastically scrolling beyond the end of a document or webpage. Licenses for the patent were obtained by Nokia and IBM, and Apple offered a license to Samsung.

Apple asserted this patent against Samsung as part of its failed attempt to get an injunction against Galaxy devices, and the court order denying the injunction includes general discussion of how past licensing behavior affects the decision of whether or not to grant an injunction. The discussion is nestled among two redacted statements shown to The Verge that confirm the '381 patent was licensed to IBM and Nokia, and that Apple offered a license to Samsung in November of 2010 as part of settlement negotiations.

The fact that Apple has been willing to gain profit from a license offered to other companies undermines its argument that it is being irreparably harmed by Samsung's alleged infringement.