(Reuters)
- A U.S. court removed a temporary sales ban against Samsung
Electronics Co Ltd's Galaxy Tab 10.1
won by Apple Inc in
a patent dispute, allowing the South Korean company to sell the product in the
United States.
While the Galaxy 10.1 is an older model, the lifting of
the ban could still help Samsung in the run-up to the pivotal holiday shopping
season.
"We are
pleased with the court's action today, which vindicates our position that there
was no infringement of Apple's design patent and that an injunction was not
called for," Samsung said in a statement.
Separately,
Samsung filed a motion against Apple saying the iPhone 5 had infringed on some
of the company's patents.
The world's
top two smartphone makers are locked in patent disputes in 10 countries as they
vie to dominate the lucrative market.
The legal
fight began last year when Apple sued Samsung in multiple countries, and
Samsung countersued.
The
injunction on the Galaxy tablet had been put in place ahead of a month-long
trial that pitted the iPhone maker against Samsung in a closely watched legal
battle that ended in August with a victory for Apple on many of its patent
violation claims.
However, the
jury found that Samsung had not violated the patent that was the basis for the
tablet injunction and Samsung argued the sales ban should be lifted.
The sole
basis for the preliminary injunction no longer exists since the jury found
that Samsung'sGalaxy Tab had not violated Apple's D'889 patent.
"The court
does not agree with Apple that Samsung's motion for dissolution of the June 26
preliminary injunction cannot be fairly decided without resolving Apple's
post-trial motions," Judge Lucy Koh said in her ruling.
Apple could
not immediately be reached for comment outside regular U.S. business hours.
The case in
U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, is Apple Inc v. Samsung
Electronics Co Ltd et al, No. 11-1846.
(Reporting
by Sakthi Prasad; additional reporting by Miyoung Kim in Seoul and Sruthi
Ramakrishnan in Bangalore; Editing by Chris Gallagher and Ryan Woo)
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