Judge Halts U.S. Sales of Samsung Galaxy Tab

Reuters: Judge Lucy Koh has granted Apple a preliminary injunction banning sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the United States. Koh, who is presiding over the lawsuit regarding the question of whether the Galaxy Tab 10.1 violates Apple’s patents on the iPad, originally declined to issue a preliminary injunction, but she changed her mind after the appeals court ordered her to reconsider the request. “Although Samsung has a right to compete, it does not have a right to compete unfairly, by flooding the market with infringing products,” Koh wrote.

Not surprisingly, Samsung objected to the ban. “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,” the company said in a statement. “Should Apple continue to make legal claims based on such a generic design patent, design innovation and progress in the industry could be restricted.”