The story goes like this; Judge Koh denied the preliminary injunction requested by Apple on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the US. At the time she appeared to feel that there was not enough evidence to merit a full injunction (Judge Richard Posner just dismissed a similar case in an Apple Vs Motorola case with prejudice). Unfortunately Apple appealed and the higher court told Koh she should reconsider the request.

Now in the first ruling Koh stated “Apple has failed to establish that it would be irreparably harmed in the absence of a preliminary injunction.”Koh also seemed to feel that Apple did not have enough evidence in the case stating “Apple has not met its overall burden of establishing a likelihood of success” Yet now she has completely flipped her determination it is remarkable what he “new” judgment says; “Although Samsung has a right to compete, it does not have a right to compete unfairly, by flooding the market with infringing products”

So now, let me get this straight…. You felt that Apple’s design patent was too vauge and broad and that there was no evidence of irreparable harm, yet now you think that Samsung is “flooding the market” with copies. This is exactly the problem with our legal system. How can the SAME JUDGE have such opposing views on THE SAME EXACT CASE?!?! We have not idea on this as according to the information we have Apple has not brought in any new evidence to show irreparable harm of clarified their design patent for either the iPad or iPhone.

Just yesterday we wrote about how this type of patent lawsuit is damaging to the economy and the consumer. Maybe someone needs to send Judge Koh a copy so that she can see exactly what she is buying into. The consumer and the economy (not Apple) is the one being irreparably harmed here yet these judges with little to no actual technical or apparently logical skills are handing out sales bans on products over a single design patent. I would like Koh and Apple to show me the numbers that equate to that design patent covering the entire product. The simple fact is they cannot and as is being pointed out in many cases they cannot do this in almost every case where they have asked for a ban on a product.

The judicial system needs to stop being a tool to block competition and innovation. These suits need to be thrown out more often than they are indulged and the US patent system (and the global patent system) needs a serious overhaul. Samsung is sure to appeal this decision to the Federal Appeals Court in Washington, but the Ban on sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 will go into effect as soon as Apple posts a $2.5 million bond (the bond is also a little on the low side).

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