In a court filing Monday evening, Judge Lucy Koh denied Apple’s request for a permanent sales ban on the 26 Samsung products found to have infringed Apple’s patents in a jury verdict this past August.
Writing that “this Court has already performed significant irreparable harm analysis in this case,” Koh concluded that Apple didn’t establish the case for a permanent injunction on Samsung’s products. Apple needed to prove that the infringing features were what were directly driving “consumer demand for the accused product” in order to obtain the ban, but that bar was too high.
Neither statements about broad categories, nor evidence of copying, nor the conjoint survey provides sufficiently strong evidence of causation. Without a causal nexus, this Court cannot conclude that the irreparable harm supports entry of an injunction.”
The ruling means the case will continue on its current trajectory, as Koh also denied Samsung’s request for a new trial, based on the jury foreman’s alleged misconduct.
