Apple looking to get Samsung banned from selling Galaxy devices

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Corporate News, Handhelds

If Apple gets its way with a California court, Samsung Galaxy devices could be removed from shelves within two months.

As patent blogger Florian Mueller noted on Saturday, Apple is pushing for a an injunction over Samsung devices to take place on September 8, claiming they rip off the look and feel of Apple iPhones and iPads. Meanwhile, Samsung has proposed a hearing date of October 14. Apple's original request for an August 5 hearing was denied by the judge as too soon.

Apple's aggression is an obvious way to make things as difficult as possible for Samsung, since the injunction would force Samsung to cease sales of four products: the Infuse 4G, Galaxy S 4G, Droid Charge, and Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Mueller thinks presiding Judge Lucy Koh will choose a hearing date sometime between the two proposals, skewed towards Apple.

"As an observer I believe Samsung's attempt to play for time is very transparent," he wrote in a blog post. "Also, Apple has already modified its schedule significantly, pushing back the proposed hearing date by about a month as compared to its motion. I also think Apple is quite right that the infringement allegations at issue are pretty straightforward, and Samsung should be able to respond to them reasonably soon."

Last month when Judge Koh denied Samsung's request for a sneak peak at the "iPhone 5" and "iPad 3" as part of its discovery process. At the time Mueller noted that Apple's case for an injunction relies on the patent infringement between commercially available phones; an injunction too far down the line might require Apple to open up its plans for upcoming devices.

The patent dispute between Apple and Samsung began in April when Apple sued Samsung for copying iPhone and iPad designs in its Galaxy range, which includes the Galaxy S 4G and Galaxy Tab. To strengthen its proposal for a preliminary injunction of Galaxy devices, Apple requested—and was granted—access to five then-unreleased Galaxy prototypes (though some of these prototypes, like the Galaxy Tab 10, were already circulating among developers). A week after Apple's motion, Samsung claimed three separate patent infringement suits against Apple in South Korea, Japan, and Germany.

This article, written by Sara Yin, originally appeared on PCMag.com and is republished on Gear Live with the permission of Ziff Davis, Inc.