The legal back and forth between Apple and Samsung is getting nasty. Between lawsuits and ITC filings, the companies appear more and more like nations at war and not just electronics giants. Apple's latest move in this nightmare chess match is an attempt to block four of Samsung's new wireless devices in the U.S.
Recently Samsung petitioned the International Trade Commission (ITC) to block the iPad, iPod, and iPhone from being imported into the U.S. and it looks like Apple is firing back. Apple's approach is a bit different though. Instead of filing with the ITC, Apple has filed a preliminary injunction which states:
"Apple moves for a preliminary injunction to prevent Defendants from infringing three Apple design patents and one utility patent by selling four recently released products: the Infuse4G, Galaxy S 4G, and Droid Charge smartphones, and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer."
FOSS Patents uncovered the motion and found the related document. The document addresses the need for the injunction saying "A preliminary injunction is necessary not only to protect Apple's rights, but also to protect the public interest." The document goes on to say, "Because Apple has demonstrated a likelihood of success on its claims, the public interest would be served by prohibiting Samsung from infringing Apple's patents."
What's notably missing from the injunction document are the soon to be released Galaxy S 2 phone and Galaxy Tab 8.9. That isn't specifically an oversight on Apple's part. The company addressed the forthcoming devices by saying it, "reserves the right to seek a preliminary injunction against those two products as their release becomes imminent."
The document details the patents in question as well as discusses the specifics of why the infringement suit is being brought. This is a pretty detailed filing, including images comparing the phones and tablet in question to the iPhone and iPad design as it relates to the following patents:
- U.S. Design Patent No. D618,677 on an "electronic device"
- U.S. Design Patent No. D593,087 on an "electronic device"
- U.S. Design Patent No. D504,889 on an "electronic device"
- U.S. Patent No. 7,469,381 on "list scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touch-screen display"
If all of these filings actually come to fruition, consumers are going to have some very limited choices as to which devices they can buy.
