U.S. appeals court grants injunction to Apple

A U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. on Thursday ruled in favour of Apple Inc against Samsung in the companies' long-running smartphone legal battle. The court said that Apple should have been awarded an injunction barring Samsung from selling products that infringe its patents.

The court noted, “To develop the iPhone, Apple invested billions of dollars over several years—investment that came with significant risk. Indeed, Apple executives referred to the iPhone as a “you bet your company” product because of the uncertainty associated with launching an untested product line in a new market.”

The appeals court also said that the district court abused its discretion when it denied Apple an injunction after a jury ordered Samsung to pay $120 million in May, 2014 for infringing three of Apple's patents, which includes, iPhone's slide-to-unlock, autocorrect and data detection features, according to Reuters.

However, the court ruling pointed out that Apple seeks only a “narrow feature-based injunction” as it does not want to ban Samsung's devices from the marketplace, and that Samsung can remove the patented features without recalling its products or disrupting customer use of its products.

"Apple does not seek to enjoin the sale of lifesaving drugs, but to prevent Samsung from profiting from the unauthorized use of infringing features in its cellphones and tablets," the court said.

According to Reuters, the case has been sent to a federal district court in San Jose, California, to reconsider the injunction.