On Monday the United States District Court for the Northern District of California rejected Apple’s request to ban the sale of 26 smartphones in the US, but it also turned down Samsung request for a retrial of the landmark $1 billion patent case.
Although the court found that Samsung products infringed on Apple’s patents, judge Lucy Koh concluded that the infringing tech makes up for a small portion of Samsung products’ functionality. Hence, banning the sale of Samsung gear would unfairly deprive consumers of their right to buy them, LA Times reports.
Koh also shot down Samsung’s request to hold a retrial. Samsung alleges that the jury foreman in the case should not have been allowed on the jury because of his previous involvement in patent allegation.
Both companies are expected to appeal the latest rulings and Apple has also filed a second patent infringement case against Samsung. The new case isn’t expected to go to trial until 2014, but when it does it will give tech hacks something to write about on slow news days.
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