APPLE vs SAMSUNG

Apple has paid a $95.6m bond to ban the Samsung Galaxy Nexus from being sold in the US. 

Apple has posted the court mandated $95.6 million bond to bring the Samsung Galaxy Nexus US sales ban into force, this happening days after Samsung’s appeal against the ban was thrown out of court.

With the Galaxy Nexus now completely banned from sale in the States, Google has withdrawn the top-of-the-range handset from its online sales outlet whilst Samsung is to continue to appeal the against the court order.

An official Samsung spokesperson said today "We will continue to pursue an appeal of the Galaxy Nexus preliminary injunction, which we filed on July 2 to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit,” "Meanwhile, we are also working closely with Google to resolve this matter, as the patent in question concerns Google's unified search function."

Samsung was told earlier on this week by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, that she would not be lifting the sales ban imposed on the company’s Google branded smartphone in the US.

The legal complaint was brought before the courts by Apple and is accusing the Samsung of copying its iPhone and iPad devices.

Judge Lucy Koh

The ban came into effect when Apple posted a $96 million bond.Judge Lucy Koh ruled that due to Samsung's large number of alternative smartphones available, the Korean based company is not likley to be hit too heavily by the sales ban of the Galaxy Nexus.

“Although some consumers may be disappointed that they cannot purchase the Galaxy Nexus, the Galaxy Nexus, as Samsung itself has repeatedly insisted, is not Samsung’s only smartphone product on the market,” said the US judge.

This news comes just days after Apple was granted a US sales ban on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet, which is another case that Samsung has had its appeal thrown out of court. Having lost a sequence of major legal disputes with Apple, Samsung is to appeal the decisions, stating Apple can’t prove any potential patent infringements are damaging its market share.

The ban will come into effect once Apple has posted a bond of $96 million (£61.2m).

Korean firm Samsung has appealed the ruling on seven grounds, in its attempt to dismiss claims its Nexus handset unlawfully infringed on Apple patent no. 8,086,604, an intellectual property right that covers a device’s ability to carry out multiple source searches through a single interface.

The initial ruling was made on the original Apple iPhones 5^th Birthday by US Judge Lucy Koh, with Apple saying that it will push to have the ban rolled out across a further 24 Samsung handsets, including the brand new Samsung Galaxy S3.

Judge Koh said in her ruling "Although Samsung will necessarily be harmed by being forced to withdraw its product from the market before the merits can be determined after a full trial, the harm faced by Apple absent an injunction is greater,”

"Apple's interest in enforcing its patent rights is particularly strong because it has presented a strong case on the merits."

Samsung said last week that it was “disappointed” with the court’s decision asserting the injunction will “restrict U.S. consumer choice in the smartphone market.”

An official Samsung spokesperson said “We will take all available measures, including legal action, to ensure the Galaxy Nexus remains available to consumers."We say, keep on going Samsung.