Apple has made a ban on the sale of a number of Samsung smartphones in the US due to patent infringement «slide-to-unlock»
According to the decision of the judge Lucy Koh, who examined patent conflicts between Apple and Samsung, violations recorded in the smartphone Samsung Admire, Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy Note, Note II, Galaxy S II, S II Epic 4G Touch, S II Skyrocket, Galaxy S III and the Stratosphere. We are talking about the use of feature on these devices called slide-to-unlock. According to the court ruling, Samsung is forbidden to import, sell and distribute those devices in the United States because of violation of the patent.
In court, Apple said that they lost profits, because some buyers preferred to buy Samsung products, which has become more attractive thankfully to Apple’s technology.
“The struggle for the primary customer is very important, because in the future, they tend to prefer the same brand” – said the representative of the Apple.
Patent proceedings lasted from 2013, so the ban touched earlier models of Samsung smartphones and tables, which are not in demand in the US market. However, this resolution has practical benefits. First of all, it’s a victory of Apple, which has managed to prove a violation of their intellectual property, but what is more important is that now, if anyone decides to violate Apple’s patent, will know that the company can achieve the injunction, even if the patent covers only a small aspect of the individual functions in multifunctional devices.
Patent confrontation between Apple and Samsung, under which the companies accused each other of misuse of patented technologies and design elements in their gadgets, has been going on for more than five years. In December last year the Apple asked the competitor an additional $180 million compensation for the infringement of patents.