Apple Fails In New Samsung Galaxy Nexus Ban Bid

Apple has suffered a second patent blow in as many days after a US court refused to review its decision not to award the iPhone manufacturer an injunction on the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus in the country.

The Cupertino-based company  had requested that all active judges of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reconsider the earlier decision made by a three judge panel to overturn an injunction issued by the US District Court for the Northern District of California in June.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus

Apple had been able to convince US District Judge Lucy Koh that it had suffered “irreparable damages” over a patent related to voice recognition software Siri and that monetary damages were an insufficient remedy. However, the panel ruled that the district court had “abused its discretion” in awarding the injunction.

The US appeals court upheld its earlier ruling as it was unsatisfied that Apple could prove that the alleged infringement was a key factor in driving consumer demand.

“Such rehearings are rarely granted, but the question of whether patent holders would be able to bar direct competitors from continued infringement of patents without having to prove that the patented features drive consumer demand appeared important enough to warrant high-level attention,” said analyst Florian Mueller. “For multifunctional products it’s extremely hard, if not impossible, to show that a particular feature drives consumer demand.”

The ruling comes a day after Apple’s attempt to increase the damages that Samsung was ordered to pay in August was rejected by the same US District Court. Apple had wanted the £650 million amount tripled.

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