“Judge Lucy Koh of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has put a damper on Apple’s hopes of speeding up its federal lawsuit against Samsung,” Florian Mueller reports for FOSS Patents.
“While an order she issued yesterday relates to only a very limited subset of the entire litigation, the rationale for her decision to deny a motion to shorten time (for the said subset) suggests that she has serious doubt about Apple’s entitlement to a faster process in general as well as about the consistency of Apple’s positions and actions in that regard,” Mueller reports. “This does not bode well for Apple’s efforts to compress the timeline for the case as a whole and for Apple’s desire to obtain a preliminary injunction with respect to certain patents and products.”
Mueller writes, “While the judge didn’t mention this, she probably was aware of the fact that Apple filed its ITC complaint against Samsung only on July 5 — even after Samsung’s own ITC complaint against Apple. The ITC is a forum that litigants in this industry frequently choose to get a quick decision. Apple waited with its ITC complaint for more than two-and-a-half months after its original federal lawsuit. In many cases, ITC complaints are filed simultaneously with federal lawsuits. The fact that Apple took so much more time does nothing to enhance the credibility of Apple’s claims of urgency.”
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Good things come to those who wait.
Related articles:
Apple’s ITC complaint against Samsung: 5 technical, 2 design patents against 6 smartphones, 2 tablets – July 7, 2011
Apple files ITC complaint seeking to bar Samsung imports into U.S. – July 6, 2011
Judge to Apple: August 5 too early for hearing on preliminary injunction against Samsung – July 5, 2011
Samsung drops a patent-infringement counter-suit against Apple – July 2, 2011
Apple files preliminary injunction in U.S. against Samsung Infuse 4G, Galaxy S 4G, Droid Charge, Galaxy Tab 10.1 – July 2, 2011
Samsung scoffs at Apple in California lawsuit defense filing – July 1, 2011
Samsung files U.S. ITC complaint against Apple: Long-time partners heading for ugly divorce? – June 29, 2011
Apple sues Samsung in South Korea in patent fight – June 24, 2011
Judge denies Samsung request to see Apple iPhone 5, iPad 3 – June 22, 2011
Samsung denies negotiating with Apple over iPhone and iPad infringement – June 20, 2011
Apple and Samsung executives in talks on patent lawsuits – June 18, 2011
Apple amends complaint against Samsung, asserts more IP rights against more products – June 17, 2011
Apple feels ‘harassed’ by ‘copyist’ Samsung’s demands iPhone 5 and iPad 3 previews; showdown on Friday – June 14, 2011
Samsung seeks court order to see Apple’s next-gen iPhone, iPad samples in patent dispute – May 31, 2011
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Samsung countersues Apple over iPhone, iPad; lawsuits filed in South Korea, Japan and Germany – April 22, 2011
Apple lawsuit against Samsung deemed no threat to supply – April 19, 2011
Apple v. Samsung: a complete lawsuit analysis – April 19, 2011
Samsung vows to countersue Apple over patent suit – April 19, 2011
Why Apple is suing Samsung and why Samsung will likely settle – April 19, 2011
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Samsung’s ‘Instinct’ is obviously to make Apple iPhone knockoffs – April 1, 2008
Justice delayed is justice denied.
judgepedia: Judge Lucy Koh, Former member of the Board of Directors of the Korean American Bar Association of Northern California
Seriously? What a crock!
Figures..
You are seriously deluded if you think her ancestry has anything to do with her decision in this case
Just what I was wondering… 🙁
That association has “American” in its name. You’re an idiot to bring something like that up.
Bullshit. If Apple was that concerned with quickly stopping Samsung, it should have acted faster. If there is a dire threat to your business, you don’t wait 2 1/2 months to file in court, especially when you already started the process.
Again, getting a preliminary injunction takes a strong showing of definite irreparable harm, not guesses. I don’t think there’s any way Apple could have received a preliminary injunction in this case, even if it had moved at the speed of light to file with the ITC and the court. The irreparable harm standard is just too great to overcome here. It’s not like Apple’s iPhone/iPad business is hurting from Samsung products being sold.
Justice in this country is going to hell!
Not in this case. It SHOULD be extremely difficult to obtain a preliminary injunction, particularly what Apple is seeking – to prohibit Samsung from selling its products in the U.S. If anyone could walk into a court, make a claim against another person/company that they were going to be harmed if XYZ happened, and NOT have to fully prove it, then business would crawl to a halt here.
The fact is that if Apple can prevail at trial, Apple can be compensated with cash and also an injunction at the time of the judgment barring Samsung from continuing to sell its products in the U.S. However, Apple can’t show currently that Samsung continuing to sell its phones/tablets is crippling Apple’s business (since Apple is selling every iPad it can produce, Apple can’t prove that claim). So a preliminary injunction is completely inappropriate and should be denied.
There’s also no reason for an expedited trial procedure. Samsung hasn’t shown that its products are impacting Apple sales at all.
Does anyone know why Apple has waited at all since the original introduction of the iPhone with the famous, “… and boy have we patented it”? 4 years is a long time for companies like Samsung and HTC to have gained traction and stolen momentum.
Apple filed for the patents along the way when creating the iPhone/iOS, but it takes at least a year, and usually 2-4 years, before a patent is granted or denied. Plus, you don’t just see a product being sold and walk to the courthouse the next day and file a lawsuit. There are procedures that must be followed, like making demands for royalty payments for infringing on your IP rights, negotiations which may or may not take place, etc. You have to prove that you made a demand either for royalty payments or demands to cease and desist, with an opportunity for the infringing party to comply. Typically that’s a several month long process. Then you file.
Don’t see Apple winning this one or the HTC suit. Not alot of sympathy for Apple out there. While Android is being hailed as the people’s choice.
“the people’s choice” is pure marketing drivel. Plus, popular opinion/sympathy has nothing to do with Apple winning or losing any IP lawsuit.
@arfen
Well most android lovers feel that way, but you don’t have a clue what you are talking about.
And also arfen, don’t be an armchair lawyer, you sound like a idiot.
Crystal balls don’t work, but if you hate Apple they will lose every case, haters are all the same everywhere you go.
Android people’s choice for what, cheap buy one get one free garbage with the added bonus of mail ware to make you feel like you never left the Microsoft windows family.
Yea, a real winner there arfen, a real winner.