Apple's attempt to create a tablet monopoly using patent troll tactics have failed in the United States after a Judge told the outfit to come up with a bit of proof.

While Judges in Germany and Australia have been happy to ban Samsung's Galaxy Tab while they wait for a full trial, in the US, Jobs' Mob has been told to sling its hook. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh said that Samsung Electronic's Galaxy tablets might infringe Apple  iPad patents, but added that Apple has a problem establishing the validity of its patents. Judge Koh has yet to rule on Apple's request to bar some Galaxy products from being sold in the United States but with comments like that it indicates that Apple is unlikely to get the injunction it wants.

Apple's lawyers are going for injuctions because by the time that the legal mess is sorted out, the industry will have moved on and the products involved will be out of date. Apple now must show both that Samsung infringed its patents and that its patents are valid under the law while Samsung has to prove that there is some doubt about the validity of Apple's patents.

The Judge has indicated there are a lot in her mind already. Koh frequently remarked on the similarity between each company's tablets. At one point during the hearing, she held one black glass tablet in each hand above her head, and asked Sullivan if she could identify which company produced which.

"Not at this distance your honor," said Sullivan, who stood at a podium roughly ten feet away.

Koh did say she would deny Apple's request for an injunction based on one of Apple's so-called "utility" patents. She did not say whether she would grant the injunction based on three other Apple "design" patents.

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