Apple just scored a U.S. sales ban on some Samsung software, which means that some Galaxy devices using that software will no longer be available on the market.
The sales ban covers a number of Samsung Galaxy devices that were found to infringe on Apple's patents, but this may sound worse than it actually is for Samsung fans.
The devices that will no longer be available for purchase are not new flagships or anything of sort, they're merely some older smartphones that were already gone from the market in most part.
Here are the Samsung Galaxy devices you can't buy anymore, following Apple's new win:
- Samsung Galaxy Nexus
- Samsung Galaxy Note
- Samsung Galaxy Note 2
- Samsung Galaxy S2
- Samsung Galaxy S2 Epic 4G Touch
- Samsung Galaxy S2 Skyrocket
- Samsung Galaxy S3
- Samsung Admire
- Samsung Stratosphere
These devices will no longer be on sale as a result of the latest round of the ever-growing Apple vs. Samsung patent war. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh sided with Apple, granting Cupertino a motion for permanent injunction against Samsung devices that use technology covered by patents Samsung infringed.
As Foss Patents blogger Florian Mueller points out, however, Apple's latest victory is mainly a symbolic win, as the ruling affects only software found on older Samsung smartphones.
The Samsung Galaxy S3 is the most recent smartphone on that list, and it's already pretty old. The handset made its debut back in 2012 and proved to be a great hit for Samsung, but a slew of newer Galaxy flagships have since flooded the market and left the Galaxy S3 in the dust. Moreover, most of the devices on the list are not even in Samsung's U.S. portfolio anymore, as the OEM stopped selling them a while ago.
Nevertheless, Apple fought long and hard to score this small victory. Back in May 2014, Apple won a $119.6 million jury verdict against Samsung, as the jury ruled that the South Korean OEM had infringed on several Apple patents. Apple moved to include these fringed-upon patents in its injunction request.
While Apple wanted the court to ban Samsung's devices that infringed said patents, however, Judge Koh rejected Apple's bid in August 2014, ruling that monetary damages should suffice to settle the issue. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit then disagreed with Koh's aforementioned ruling and sided with Apple, ruling that Samsung should have indeed been banned from using patented features it infringed on.
This new ruling finally gives Apple a long-awaited sales ban on Samsung Galaxy smartphones, just not on new ones. Simply put, it's mainly a symbolic win for Apple and it should not affect Samsung's sales.
