New in OS X: Get MacRumors Push Notifications on your Mac

Resubscribe Now Close

Ban on Galaxy Nexus U.S. Sales Upheld, Software Patch to Circumvent Forthcoming

Tuesday July 3, 2012 8:43 pm PDT by Eric Slivka
Last week, Apple won a preliminary injunction banning U.S. sales of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, a high-profile Android phone that was the lead device for Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" and given away to attendees at last week's Google I/O conference to show off the forthcoming Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean". The ban followed a similar injunction barring sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 that was issued a few days earlier.

Samsung immediately appealed both of the injunctions in hopes of continuing sales of the devices as the cases over Android software features proceed through full trials. But the judge overseeing both cases rejected Samsung's appeal in the Galaxy Tab 10.1 case over the weekend and today similarly declined the company's appeal in the Galaxy Nexus case. AllThingsD has more on the developments:
U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh ruled that there was not sufficient evidence to put the ban on hold while Samsung pursues an appeal.

“Although some consumers may be disappointed that they cannot purchase the Galaxy Nexus, the Galaxy Nexus, as Samsung itself has repeatedly insisted, is not Samsung’s only smartphone product on the market,” Koh wrote in the ruling.
Just minutes after the decision, AllThingsD also reported that Google and Samsung have developed a software workaround they believe will satisfactorily address the infringement issue being claimed by Apple, which involves a unified search function related to Siri's abilities.
First and foremost, Samsung and Google have a software patch that they believe avoids infringing the Apple patent that led to the injunction. That patch is expected to be pushed out imminently, Google said.
Google and Samsung are also continuing to pursue the matter on other fronts, persisting in their battle against Apple in the case while also seeking to have Apple's patent ruled invalid through reexamination by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

[ 562 comments ]


Top Rated Comments

(View all)

Avatar
east85
86 months ago
Apple spent millions to make this happen. Google answers with a patch. :D

I'm sorry but I find this comical. :apple:
Rating: 57 Votes
Avatar
WindWaker
86 months ago
whether you're an android fan or an apple fan, you can't help but be a little sad about how patents are being handled nowadays...
Rating: 49 Votes
Avatar
ChazUK
86 months ago

Android has had unified search in android long before it was in iOS.


And Apple have applied for patents long before Android and iOS existed.

They aren't newbies when it comes to operating systems.
Rating: 22 Votes
Avatar
Pyrrhic Victory
86 months ago
These legal battles are becoming so epic that some game developer should make an MMORPG featuring the Android Alliance vs the Apple Empire...or something.
Rating: 19 Votes
Avatar
unlinked
86 months ago

Glad Apple won. Glad Google can write their own code work-around to satisfy the courts. Sounds like a win-win. Apple's competitors need to see that they can't rip the boys from Cupertino off, but it also shows that with a little elbow grease, they can get the results they need to be competitive.


I think it is still a preliminary injunction. Google just want to put out a patch so they can continue to sell while the court case works itself out.
Rating: 17 Votes
Avatar
tylersdad
86 months ago
Am I reading this correctly? That this is all because of the search functionality? Does apple really think they'll lose sales because of that one feature?

I can't figure out how they were able to patent that. It's been part of most desktop operating systems for ages.

I hope the patent is nullified.
Rating: 15 Votes
Avatar
dwd3885
86 months ago
Android has had unified search in android long before it was in iOS.
Rating: 14 Votes
Avatar
kdarling
86 months ago

Would like to see how they try and make the patent invalid. If it was a logical thing for anyone to do Google would be better placed than most companies to make it.


Supposedly Google did do it on their own. They just apparently didn't apply for, or search for, a patent about something that must've seemed so obvious to them.

Then once Apple did it, it only took what 9 months to make a direct competition to it? Sounds like a pretty valid patent to me.


What took months, was for the courts to decide to grant a preliminary injunction before trial even started.

Making a workaround probably took just hours, if even that long. There just wasn't any need for it until the injunction.

So what is the patch?


I've read (but not confirmed) that the search box will now only go to the web instead of also searching local files.

So there would be no effective change for the overwhelming majority of users who just wanted to search the web in the first place. Heck, maybe it'll even be faster.

Hmm. Come to think of it, many of us have our contacts and email stored in the cloud as well. No need to search locally.
Rating: 12 Votes
Avatar
Chabba
86 months ago

And Apple have applied for patents long before Android and iOS existed.

They aren't newbies when it comes to operating systems.


http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=8086604.PN.&OS=PN/8086604&RS=PN/8086604


All the way back in 2000.
Rating: 11 Votes
Avatar
gorskiegangsta
86 months ago

Here comes another 1,000 post war of words as people without ALL the facts say how improper this was of the court.


I am all for banning products that directly infringe on key Hardware/interface designs, because those trick consumers into buying something they may not want to, and it hurts Apple's sales and brand strength.

However, the facts are all there for us to see. One of the patents has to do specifically with integrated system wide search, not SIRI, as it was mentioned. Since when is a system wide search a feature that is only unique to iOS devices? So, Galaxy Nexus users should not be able to easily search for local files/apps on their device? C'mon, that serves zero benefit to anyone, including Apple.
Rating: 11 Votes

[ Read All Comments ]