SEOUL, KOREA – Samsung is suffering an eight-day losing streak in its patent battle with Apple. The latest loss to be played out in a San Jose courtroom: A judge has rejected Samsung’s request to overturn a temporary sales ban on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh shot down Samsung’s request to throw out her June 26 decision to place a preliminary sales stoppage on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 because she ruled it looked too much like Apple’s iPad, according to a Bloomberg report.
At the core of the ongoing patent dispute between the two rivals is Apple’s contention that Samsung’s phones and tablets are rip-offs of the iPhone and iPad. Both Samsung and Apple are also accusing each other of infringing on technology patents as well. In her decision to issue the sales block before the suit goes to trial, Koh said, “The Court noted that the GalaxyTab 10.1 is ‘virtually indistinguishable’ from Apple’s iPad and iPad 2.”
On Friday, Koh issued a preliminary sales ban on Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus smartphone as well. But that halt wasn’t issued because the Nexus looks too much like the iPhone. Rather, Koh ordered a sales stoppage to the Nexus due to Apple’s claim that the flagship Android phone infringes on a patent pertaining to “unified search” as seen in the iPhone’s voice assistant app Siri.
Officials at Samsung were unavailable for comment by press time. The patent fight is set to go to trial on July 30.
Source: WIRED.COM
