With One Small Victory in Apple Case, Samsung Aims to Get Tablet Sales Ban Reversed

There wasn’t much solace for Samsung in the details of Friday’s ruling, as the jury found in Apple’s favor on almost every major issue and ordered the Korean company to pay its rival more than $1 billion in damages.

One of the few things that might be considered a victory for Samsung was the fact that the jury found that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 didn’t violate an Apple design patent related to the iPad.

Samsung is now hoping that Judge Lucy Koh will overturn an earlier sales ban on its tablet. In June, Koh had issued a preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1, ruling that Apple was likely to prevail on the design patent infringement claim.

However, with the jury having found differently, Samsung argues the ban should now be reversed — and soon. Its papers call for Koh to demand a speedy reply from Apple and rule quickly on the matter.

Samsung could even get some money from Apple for sales it lost during the time that the injunction was in place.

“The jury found that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 does not infringe the D889 patent,” Samsung said. “Since the purported infringement of the D889 patent was the only basis for the preliminary injunction, the jury’s finding means that Samsung had a right to sell the Galaxy Tab 10.1 during the period in which the injunction has been in effect. Samsung is therefore entitled to recover damages caused by the improper injunction.”

Of course, the jury did find lots of other types of infringement in its verdict on Friday, meaning that Apple will be seeking injunctions against a variety of other Samsung products. And Samsung is in no rush to have Koh rule on those issues.