Apple's Court Date For Samsung Smartphone Ban Looms
It's not been a good summer for Samsung Electronics, although they are getting ready to announce new devices during IFA 2012 in Berlin. The Korean mega-giant wasn’t able to deflect Apple’s patent infringement case and now faces a $1 billion damages claim after losing the case. But its troubles don’t stop there. On Sept. 20, a federal court is scheduled to hear Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction against eight of Samsung’s mobile devices: Galaxy S 4G, Galaxy S II AT&T, Galaxy S II Skyrocket, Galaxy S II T-Mobile, Galaxy S II Epic 4G, Galaxy S Showcase, Droid Charge and Galaxy Prevail. I see the court battle developing this way on Sept. 20 – a Samsung quick fix. If the jury rules against a preliminary injunction, Samsung may, nonetheless, take this opportunity to change their devices in a way that would not infringe Apple's patents. It might sound unrealistic, but I would guess that Samsung wants to repair the bad situation they are in now. Everyone knew that some of Samsung’s smartphone designs and software had copied elements from Apple's iPhones, as the jury noted in its ruling in the Apple patent case. And even if the jury doesn’t grant a preliminary injunction, Apple should be happy that it scored a major victory against copy-cat phones. Apple’s hearing for a permanent ban against Samsung’s phones is scheduled for Dec. 6. Once this Apple-Samsung trial is over, I hope tech companies will start thinking about creating new designs and software platforms and stop looking on what others create. And the most recent example of this is the Ice Cream Sandwich OS, which was revamped from top to bottom to give Android users a unique experience.
