After the verdict given by the jury, Apple Inc. has put forward a request to a court in California to impose an order on Samsung Electronics to stop using the features that it had infringed through three of the iPhone maker’s patents. The company has also requested the court to either order a retrial for the remaining patents or conduct a review of the damages that were awarded during the previous trial. Apple is seeking this injunction in the US District Court for the San Jose division of Northern District California. It would include features such as the auto-correct features for spelling of words, the quick-link feature for scanning text for identifying structures such as email addresses, dates and phone numbers and the slide-to-unlock feature for unlocking the device.
It was ruled by a California court earlier this month that a total sum of $119 million should be paid by Samsung to Apple as damages for infringing three of its patents. Apart from that, the jury also discovered that a patent belonging to Samsung had also been infringed by Apple Inc. In a filing made on Saturday, Apple stated that it wasn’t requesting the court to ban all the products of the company, but only sought an injunction that would put a stop to the South Korean giant from using those specific features again and or even making them a little different.
The iPhone maker has proposed that there can be a one-month delay in the enforcement and this duration is being regarded as a ‘sunset period’. The filing shows that this month can be used by Samsung for providing the alternatives, which are non-infringing in the market. The filing also added that as the South Korean manufacturer has claimed it can quickly and completely design around the Cupertino-California giant’s patent, then the company shouldn’t complain that people will be deprived of Samsung’s products by the injunction.
On this request for injunction by the American giant, Samsung said that the company’s demand for damages had been exaggerated due to which it was rejected by the court. Therefore, the company is now leaning on the court for pushing its smartphones out of the US market. The company also said that if this injunction was granted, Apple wouldn’t face a lot of competition, but it would greatly restrict the choices of consumers. About $2.2 million had been sought in damages by Apple for a massive infringement by the South Korean firm.
However, the jury granted the company a far smaller damage award so the company is asking for greater damages in a separate motion. As an alternative, Apple has also made the request for a new trial for the infringement of two patents for which the jury hadn’t found Samsung to be guilty. No comment was made by Samsung regarding the second motion. The companies had attempted to negotiate outside of court concerning their patent disputes, but weren’t able to settle the matter and had blamed each other in the court once again.