Apple Wants Samsung Galaxy Nexus to be Banned in U.S
Earlier this month, a judge in Germany denied Apple's request to temporarily ban sales of Samsung's Galaxy Nexus mobile phone.
That decision didn't dissuade the maker of the iPhone from seeking a similar ruling against its rival Samsung in the United States. As reported recently by analyst and intellectual property blogger Florian Mueller, Apple is seeking a preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Nexus in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
Apple is basing its request on four patents, including three that the company was only issued recently, according to Mueller.
The Galaxy Nexus incorporates Google's new Android mobile operating system named Ice Cream Sandwich and is considered one of the better handsets alongside the iPhone.
Mueller said Apple filed the motion for a preliminary injunction alongside a new federal lawsuit.
"A preliminary injunction would not prohibit the sale of a Galaxy Nexus just because it's called Galaxy Nexus or looks like one: It's all about which patents it infringes on," he wrote. "Theoretically, Google could remove the functionality protected by any of these patents in order to keep the product on sale, but if it changes the program code of a lead device, this would make it particularly clear to everyone else in the market that there's an infringement issue."
On Feb. 1, as reported by Bloomberg, a judge in Munich, Germany, rejected Apple's request to temporarily ban Samsung from selling the Galaxy Nexus and a tablet computer known as the Galaxy 10.1N.
Apple, Samsung and other handset makers are engaged in a world war over intellectual property, and Google often finds itself at the center of the litigation because its popular mobile operating system is incorporated in a variety of phones that compete with the iPhone.
U.S. regulators are keenly aware of the patent wars. In its review of Google's $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility, the U.S. Department of Justice indicated that it was concerned about Google's incentive to use Motorola's thousands of patents and patent applications as a strategic advantage over rivals. The Justice Department on Monday announced that it was closing its investigation into the deal after finding that the transaction was unlikely to substantially lessen competition. However, the agency cautioned that "how Google may exercise its patents in the future remains a significant concern."