Judge can’t lift ban on Samsung tablet—even though it’s not infringing

One of the few positives for Samsung that came out of its billion-dollar loss to Apple was a ruling that it did not infringe one Apple design patent. But before the trial began, US District Court Judge Lucy Koh on June 26 granted Apple a preliminary injunction barring sales of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 based on that patent.

Unfortunately for Samsung, the company is now having trouble getting that preliminary injunction lifted. Samsung asked Koh to dissolve the preliminary injunction, but she said she can't right now, because Samsung appealed the matter to a different court. "Samsung’s pending appeal of the June 26 Preliminary Injunction deprives the Court of jurisdiction to dissolve the injunction until and unless the Federal Circuit returns jurisdiction to this Court," Koh wrote in a ruling on Monday (PDF).

If Koh's hands weren't tied, she would lift the ban immediately, it seems. "The Court agrees with Samsung that the sole basis for the June 26 Preliminary Injunction was the Court’s finding that Samsung likely infringed the D’889 Patent," she wrote. "The jury has found otherwise. Thus, the sole basis for the June 26 Preliminary Injunction no longer exists. Based on these facts alone, the Court at this time would dissolve the June 26 Preliminary Injunction if the Court had jurisdiction."

Samsung's official Galaxy Tab 10.1 page notes only that it is "currently not available in Germany," due to another ruling. You can't buy it from Samsung's website, but you can get it from T-Mobile or Best Buy. Samsung is unlikely to suffer much harm from a sales ban affecting only this tablet, given that it is already selling newer tablets in the same size. But Koh's June 26 ruling said the ban would affect not just the original Galaxy Tab 10.1 but also "any product that is no more than colorably different from this specified product and embodies any design contained in U.S. Design Patent No. D504,889."

Apple had to post a $2.6 million bond to enforce the injunction. Samsung also asked the court to retain that bond, pending a calculation of damages suffered by Samsung as a result of the injunction.

Once the jurisdiction issues are settled, Samsung will likely win this particular battle. But the company is still facing potential bans on various other devices as a result of its loss to Apple. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 did infringe other patents, according to the jury, but Apple did not include it on the list of eight devices it wants banned as a result of the ruling.