US court denies Apple's request to ban sales of Samsung products

SAN JOSE/SEOUL (Yonhap) -- A U.S. court dismissed Apple Inc.'s request to permanently ban sales of some Samsung Electronics Co. devices in the country, granting an upper hand to the Korean handset maker in the patent war between the two tech giants, a local court filing showed Tuesday.

Following a pro-Apple jury verdict in late August, the iPhone maker had filed for an injunction to permanently ban sales of 26 Samsung products in the U.S.

Samsung refuted that 23 of those models were already off the market, and others still on sale have modified their features making it unjust to ban their sale.

In the first major ruling after a Dec. 6 hearing, federal judge Lucy Koh denied Apple's request for a permanent sales ban saying the infringed patents were "only a small fraction" of the addressed Samsung phones.

"The phones at issue in this case contain a broad range of features, only a small fraction of which are covered by Apple's patents," she wrote in the Dec. 17 filing.

"Though Apple does have some interest in retaining certain features as exclusive to Apple, it does not follow that entire products must be forever banned from the market because they incorporate, among their myriad features, a few narrow protected functions."

Samsung welcomed the order.

"We are pleased that the judge today denied Apple's move to limit consumer choice, and restrict fair competition in the marketplace," it said in an e-mailed statement.

An Apple spokesman in Korea was not available for a comment.

The federal judge, however, also dismissed Samsung's claims of jury misconduct.

Samsung requested a retrial, questioning the objectivity of jury foreman Belvin Hogan. The company argued Hogan's failure to mention a past litigation with his former employer, and Samsung's strategic partner, Seagate warranted a retrial.

The South Korean tech giant claimed the incident tainted Hogan's objectivity, while Apple refuted it was nonsensical to cite an event from nearly 20 years ago.

Koh did not rule on Apple's bid to increase the amount of damages. In August, a federal jury ordered Samsung to pay US$1.05 billion to its U.S. rival for infringing on key patents of iPads and iPhones.

Apple seeks to increase the amount, while Samsung argues that the $1.05 billion is a miscalculation and should be reduced.

Despite their business ties, Samsung and Apple have been embroiled in a war over design and technology patents since April 2011 in an attempt to gain supremacy in the $219 billion global smartphone market.

Following the Aug. 24 verdict, the two have expanded the scope of their legal tussle by adding newly released products to the list of patent infringments, such as the iPhone 5 and the Galaxy Note 2.

Samsung shares closed up 0.8 percent at 1,515,000 won ($1,411.9) on the Seoul main bourse on Tuesday.(Yonhap)