Apple begs Koh to stick to her guns

Apple objected to Samsung Electronics’ request for a judge to lift a preliminary ban on U.S. sales of its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet PC.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, issued an order temporarily blocking sales of the Tab 10.1 in June, almost two months before a jury found on Aug. 24 that Samsung infringed on six of seven Apple patents at stake in a trial between the two companies and awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages.

Apple, in a court filing yesterday, argued that Samsung’s effort to lift the ban should be denied because Samsung’s appeal of Koh’s June order “divests this court of jurisdiction.”

Koh has set a Sept. 20 hearing to consider Samsung’s request.

“Dissolving the injunction only to reinstate it shortly thereafter would cause confusion in the market and is not necessary to prevent irreparable harm” to Samsung, Apple argued in the filing.

“Indeed, Samsung admitted that the injunction is not likely to have a significant impact on its business, given that it is already selling a successor to the Galaxy Tab 10.1.”

Koh also scheduled a Dec. 6 hearing to consider Apple’s request for a permanent U.S. sales ban of eight Samsung smartphone models and the tablet following the jury verdict. Seven of the eight smartphones that Apple seeks to ban are part of Samsung’s Galaxy line.

Koh said previously that Apple has indicated it may seek to broaden the scope of Samsung products it wants banned in a permanent injunction. Apple said in an Aug. 27 court filing that Koh should also bar U.S. sales of a version of the tablet that runs on mobile networks, even though that product was not covered by the Aug. 24 verdict.

Samsung sought to have the ban on the Tab 10.1 lifted on Aug. 26 after the jury found the device did not infringe the Apple design patent on which the June 26 court-ordered sales ban was based.

The jury instead found that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 infringed three of Apple’s software patents.

Adam Yates, a Samsung spokesman, declined to comment on Apple’s filing.

Bloomberg