Samsung is banned from selling some of its older handsets. Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns/Flickr CC
Apple and Samsung have been locked in a never-ending legal battle seemingly forever, but yesterday a federal court in California agreed to finally ban the U.S. sale of several Samsung smartphones which infringe on patents owned by Apple.
The bad news? The phones are now so old that they’re not really sold any more. But there’s some good news, too.
The war continues.
Apple has received some bittersweet news in its ongoing litigation with Samsung as an appeals court has ruled that, yes, the iPhone’s design was copied, but that the overall look of a phone can’t be protected by law.
And here we were thinking there’s such a thing as a design patent!
Throughout the Samsung vs. Apple patent trial, Judge Lucy Koh has been a stern and sardonic overseer that has more often than not resembled a fight between children than an actual lawsuit. Now Koh is speaking up again, telling Samsung and Apple that, once again, they are wasting everyone’s time throwing a million and one allegations at one another, and that they need to “focus and streamline” their cases against one another.
