Pat Pilcher
APPLE’S LEGAL MOVES to block the launch of Samsung’s Galaxy S III smartphone appear to have failed. The main impediment to Apple’s legal efforts appears to be that the judge hearing Apple’s case, Lucy Koh, wasn’t able to fit Apple’s time frame into her trial schedule and had to deny the proposed injunction that would have prevented the Galaxy SIII device from launching in the US.
For rejoicing Android fans, the news is however, both good and bad. The good news is that the Galaxy S III will launch with US carriers, AT&T and T-Mobile on June 21st, followed by Verizon.
The not so great news is that the judge hasn’t denied the injunction, she just wasn’t able to hear the case in the time frame Apple stipulated. The upshot of this is that Apple is likely to continue to push for the case to be heard and sales could still be stopped. This said, by the time that eventually may come to pass, the SIII will have already been available in the US market for some time.
Wouldn’t it be great if corporates like Apple and Samsung could just play nice and compete on the merits of their respective products, no matter how similar they are? This sort of legal nonsense is always going to be a lose-lose for everyone but the lawyers. PAT PILCHER
