Boom! Apple blocks sale of samsung's flagship device. Its main competitor.
Block centered on the technology for searching multiple dbs through Siri. Hard to imagine what's generally patentable there; searching dbs was going on decades before iPhone.
Breaking: Judge grants Apple an injunction against the Galaxy Nexus
Judge Lucy Koh of California's Northern District Court ruled today in favor of granting Apple an injunction against Samsung's Galaxy Nexus phone. The injunction would seek to stop the import of Samsung's phone, which Apple alleged had infringed on four of its patents.
Apple sued for patent protection on the following software features:
- 1. A means of detecting and marking up data like a phone number or an e-mail address, and then initiating a phone call or an e-mail when the linked data is clicked
- 2. A means of searching multiple databases and sources for data
- 3. A slide to unlock feature
- 4. An autocorrect-type function that completes the word as a user types and allows the user to accept or reject the word
Reuters reports that the decision appears to have been driven by Apple's claim to the patent to search multiple sources, which Apple says is the basis of Siri. Reuters reporter Dan Levine, who was in the courtroom at the time of the ruling, tweeted that Judge Koh said, "'Apple has articulated a plausible theory of irreparable harm' [because] of 'long-term loss of market share and 'losses of downstream sales.'"