Samsung Has Lost Its Patent Fight with Apple, For Now

A judge has ruled in favor of Apple in its quest to halt the sale of Samsung's Galaxy tablet, so Apple can make arguably its biggest competition go away for $2.6 million dollars.

A judge has ruled in favor of Apple in its quest to halt the sale of Samsung's Galaxy tablet, so Apple can make arguably its biggest competition go away for $2.6 million dollars.

Reuters reports California judge Lucy Koh has decided to rule in favor of Apple in their quest to halt the sales of Samsung's Galaxy 10.1 tablets. Previously, Koh ruled in Samsung's favor when Apple tried to get a court to halt Samsung from selling their iPad competitor. A federal appeals court ordered Koh to reconsider her decision in May. The $2.6 million price tag is for a bond for Samsung to recover any damages if the injunction is proven wrong.

Unsurprisingly, Samsung isn't very happy about this development, and are already planning on appealing the decision . In a statement, the company said Apple founded their whole case "based on a single design patent that addressed just one aspect of the product's overall design... Should Apple continue to make legal claims based on such a generic design patent, design innovation and progress in the industry could be restricted."

This is another step in Apple's cowardly patent war against competitive products. Apple should be able to pony up the cash pretty easily, so if you were planning on getting a Galaxy Tab 10.1 you might want to quit lollygagging and get one over the next few days. Or you could start heading for the border. The ruling only applies to the United States.