One day after it lost a request to overturn a pre-trial ban on U.S. sales of its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet, Samsung today lost a second request, this time to lift a pre-trial injunction against sales of the Galaxy Nexus. Both rulings were made by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh. “Although some consumers may be disappointed that they cannot purchase the Galaxy Nexus, the Galaxy Nexus, as Samsung itself has repeatedly insisted, is not Samsung’s only smartphone product on the market,” Koh wrote in her ruling.
Pre-trial injunctions such as these two are pretty rare and are significant wins for Apple. Both suggest that Koh feels that Apple has strong arguments in both cases and is likely to win.
Apple will need to post a US$95.6 million bond that will cover estimated Samsung losses should it eventually win the case.
Samsung issued a statement, expressing its disappointment:
“We believe today’s ruling will ultimately reduce the availability of superior products to consumers in the United States. Meanwhile, we are also working closely with Google to resolve this matter, as the patent in question concerns Google’s unified search function.”
Such a fix may be coming as early as tonight in the form of a software update. The Verge has learned that it will effectively remove much of the functionality of the quick search bar on the Android homescreen. Results will be limited to those from the web and will no longer return local results. Voice Search could also be similarly limited.
Read more: AllThingsD and The Verge