U.S. Judge Denies Apple (AAPL) Bid to Ban Samsung Smartphone Sales

In a major setback for tech giant Apple (AAPL) in its global patent battle against electronics maker Samsung, a federal court judge in San Jose, Calif. on Thursday denied the iPhone-maker’s request for a permanent sales ban in the U.S. against a number of Samsung smartphones and tablets.

In denying Apple’s request to ban 23 Samsung devices, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh said there was not enough evidence presented by Apple to warrant an injunction.

[via AFP]: “To persuade the court to grant Apple such an extraordinary injunction — to bar such complex devices for incorporating three touchscreen software features [referred to as the pinch to zoom patent, the double-tap-to-zoom patent and the snap back patent] — Apple bears the burden to prove that these three touchscreen software features drive consumer demand for Samsung’s products,” the judge wrote in her ruling, adding that “Apple has not met this burden.”

Judge Koh also said that “the only new fact is that Samsung represents that no infringing units are currently in the marketplace.”

She added that “Apple presents no evidence that any current Samsung devices incorporate the patented features. As such, it appears that the public interest slightly favors Samsung.”

Ruling comes despite jury awarding the Cupertino-based Apple $1.05 billion for patent infringement by Samsung in August 2013. The final amount awarded was about $930 million.

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