Samsung is pressing the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to uphold an October ruling which denied Apple a pretrial sales ban on Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus smartphone, Reuters reports. Apple has requested an “en banc” review, pushing all nine Federal Circuit judges to look at the ruling again. In a Samsung filing submitted last Friday, however, Samsung argues that Apple lacks the evidence to show a “causal nexus” between a patented search function and iPhone sales that would warrant a Galaxy Nexus ban. The October ruling used “well established” reasoning in line with Supreme Court precedents, Samsung elaborates.
Even if Apple wins a ban, it would mostly only impact Samsung’s legal position. The Galaxy Nexus is still on sale with carriers like Sprint and Verizon, but has largely been superseded by LG’s Nexus 4. Both devices are official Google phones with an unmodified version of Android that automatically gets access to the latest updates.
The lawsuit connected to the ban is set to go to trial in March 2014, barring an out-of-court settlement. Apple will likely face an uphill battle with any future injunctions; in December, District Judge Lucy Koh — who has handled much of Apple and Samsung’s US legal conflicts — blocked Apple’s demand for permanent bans on several Samsung phones. Apple is looking to appeal that situation as well.
