Sprint on Galaxy Nexus Ban: Carriers Suffer Collateral Damage

Samsung has managed to rally another supporter for its motion to stay the Galaxy Nexus ban Apple won against it until a federal circuit court resolves the intellectual-property questions at issue in the case.

On Tuesday, Sprint filed an amicus brief in support of Samsung, adding its voice to that of Google, which has dismissed the alleged infringement at issue in the case as a “trivial patented aspect of a single [smartphone] application.” Sprint’s argument: Injunctions against smartphones are generally a bad idea because they turn carriers into “unwitting victims” of litigation they’re not party to.

“[An] immediate preliminary injunction against a device substantially and irreparably harms Sprint by leaving a void in its device portfolio,” the carrier said in its brief opposing the injunction.

It’s perfectly understandable that Sprint would prefer the case to be fully resolved without an immediate ban, avoiding any disruption to its smartphone lineup. That said, it’s equally understandable that Apple feels that the Galaxy Nexus should not be sold during the appeals process. After all, it has already managed to convince a federal circuit court that the device likely infringes all four of the patents it has asserted against it.