Earlier this week, US District Judge Richard Posner dismissed a patent suit filed by Apple against Motorola Mobility seeking to ban their devices from being sold in the US.  The case was dismissed with prejudice – both cannot refile the case but can appeal the ruling.

This was an important battle for companies such as Apple who seek to hinder others’ progress by filing patent infringement claims.  But that was a small matter for Apple – they’ve won something big.

Apple wins injunction over Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Apple and Samsung are the top competitors in the mobile realm though they once had a happy partnership wherein Samsung supplied parts for Apple’s iOS devices.  But since Samsung’s alleged copying of Apple’s devices, the two have been battling out in courts across different countries to ban each others products.

Apple won the most important injunction – the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is now banned from being sold in the US.

Judge Lucy Koh, who was presiding over the case, previously denied a preliminary injunction filed by Apple and they decided the two should battle it out in court over patents.  The appeals court urged her to rethink her decision since the court already found that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is virtually indistinguishable from the iPad.

“While Samsung will certainly suffer lost sales from the issuance of an injunction, the hardship to Apple of having to directly compete with Samsung’s infringing products outweighs Samsung’s harm in light of the previous findings by the Court,” Koh said in her order.

Some argue that this decision will result in less choices for consumers and a huge monetary setback for Samsung.  “Although Samsung has a right to compete, it does not have a right to compete unfairly, by flooding the market with infringing products,” she said.

Apple needs to shell out $2.6 million for a bond to cover potential damages payment in case the court decides that the ban was unjust and for the injunction to take effect.

Samsung already filed an appeal.

“Apple sought a preliminary injunction of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1, based on a single design patent that addressed just one aspect of the product’s overall design,” Samsung said.

“Should Apple continue to make legal claims based on such a generic design patent, design innovation and progress in the industry could be restricted.”

Apple is still sticking to their words that it just served Samsung right since their products show “blatant copying” of Apple devices.

“It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging,” a spokesperson said.  “This kind of blatant copying is wrong and, as we’ve said many times before, we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.”