Court rejects Apple’s request to revive Galaxy Nexus sales ban

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In another round of legal back and forth, a U.S. appeals court on Thursday again rejected Apple’s attempt at the Galaxy Nexus sales ban, Reuters reports. The news gathering organization characterized the court’s decision as “dashing the iPhone maker’s attempt to recover crucial leverage in the global patent wars”.

Apple could still appeal the decision to the United States Supreme Court though success is not guaranteed as the high court “has made it more difficult for patent plaintiffs to secure sales injunctions in recent years”.

The full trial is scheduled for March 2014. The Galaxy Nexus case is based on patents that were not part of the high-stake Apple v. Samsung trial which culminated when a California jury awarded Apple with $1.05 billion in damages in August 2012…

Reuters explains:

Apple had asked the full Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., to revisit a decision in October by a three-judge panel of the same court. The panel rejected Apple’s request to impose a sales ban on Samsung’s Nexus smartphone ahead of a trial set for March 2014.

Apple wanted the full Federal Circuit of Appeals, made up of nine active judges, to reverse the earlier ruling. But in a brief order on Thursday, the court rejected Apple’s request without detailed explanation or any published dissents.

Apple’s luck in the courtroom took the turn for the worse lately.

Earlier in the week, Judge Lucy Koh ruled that Samsung did not “willfully” infringe on Apple’s patents. The $1.05 billion verdict will stand, but Apple doesn’t get any additional damages for willful infringement.

And last week, a German court ruled that the iPhone infringed Samsung’s patents related to 3G wireless technology and has issued an order to stay a German Samsung v. Apple lawsuit.