Skip to main content

Apple Samsung Lawsuit Headed Back to Federal Circuit

By Tanya Roth, Esq. on June 28, 2012 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

The latest Apple-Samsung decision came out of a district court in California, but it only seemed fair that we bring you the news on it since we've been covering the Apple-Samsung lawsuit in the Federal Circuit.

It also looks like the case will be heading back to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals; Samsung has already filed a notice of intent to appeal.

This decision is just the latest chapter in the ongoing dispute over the iPad (Apple) and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (Samsung).

As you may recall, the Federal Circuit held last month that U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh erred in her decision in the Apple-Samsung lawsuit, when she held that Apple hadn't shown a likelihood of success on the merits. The case was remanded.

Back in district court, Apple obtained a temporary injunction banning the sale of the Galaxy Tab in the U.S.

Whereas the obviousness test had come up in the first round, this round focused more on the notion that the Galaxy Tab posed an unfair threat to Apple's iPad. Specifically, Judge Koh found that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 was "virtually indistinguishable" from the iPad. The design, she wrote, is so similar that a purchaser could be duped into believing that he is purchasing one over the other.

Does the new District Court decision apply a blanket ban on all competition? Unlikely, but the court's decision sends a message to anyone producing a tablet PC-- that Apple's watching them closely.

"Although Samsung has a right to compete," writes Koh, "it does not have the right to compete unfairly, by flooding the market with infringing products."

Let's see what the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals will have to say about this one.

Related Resources:

Copied to clipboard