Last Week Wasn’t A Great Week For Samsung: Galaxy Tab 10.1, Galaxy Nexus Banned in the US

Last week has shaped up to be one of the worst weeks for Samsung. As if a U.S. ban on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 getting approved on Tuesday was not enough, Apple also succeeded on Friday to get a U.S. ban on the Galaxy Nexus on Friday.

Judge Lucy Koh of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose on Tuesday approved a preliminary injunction on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the U.S. as per request from Apple based on a lawsuit where the Cupertino, California tech giant argues that the Samsung tablet is in violation of U.S. Design Patent No. D504,889.

“Although Samsung has a right to compete, it does not have a right to compete unfairly, by flooding the market with infringing products,” Koh said in her ruling handed down last Tuesday.

Nonetheless, Apple was made to post a $2.6 million bond to cover Samsung damages if the injunction is found illegal in the future. Apple has posted this bond while Samsung has appealed the injunction arguing that Apple should have provided updated data clearly demonstrating how the Galaxy Tab 10.1 damaged sales of the iPad.

With preliminary injunctions, the aggrieved party should demonstrate that damage as a result of the release of a competing and alleged infringing product. Nonetheless, this win is significant for Apple because the granting of a preliminary injunction strongly suggests that the judge handling the case thinks that in the long run, it will win the case on the merits of its arguments.

Meanwhile, Judge Koh on Friday also handed down a ruling which barred Samsung, its subsidiaries and other companies and retailers from selling the Galaxy Nexus smartphone in the U.S. In her ruling, Koh wrote: “Apple has made a clear showing that, in the absence of a preliminary injunction, it is likely to lose substantial market share in the smartphone market and to lose substantial downstream sales of future smartphone purchases and tag-along products.”

These are just the latest developments in the long-running and high-profile saga of lawsuits between Apple and Samsung. The two companies have been locked in a bitter legal battle spanning the globe since last year. The two have dozens of cases against each other in courts in more than 10 countries worldwide.

What do you think of these latest injunctions against Samsung Galaxy devices? Tell us in the comments below.

Image 1 & 2 from photo4howi & johncatral on Flickr (CC)