Galaxy Nexus ban remains in effect (for now), Apple posts $95.6M bond, Google stops selling
There are no surprises at this point with respect to Apple's U.S. preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Nexus. — At close of business on Tuesday, Judge Koh denied Samsung's motion to stay …
Context & Ripple Effects
The preliminary injunction Apple won against Galaxy Nexus sales on June 29 has survived its first challenge: Judge Koh denied Samsung's motion to stay, and Apple put up a $95.6M bond — the price of enforcing a ban that could be reversed on appeal. Google has responded by pulling the device from its own Play store rather than risk contempt.
The ruling sharpens a split across jurisdictions: Apple lost its bid to ban the Galaxy Tab 10.1N and Nexus phone in Germany back in February (German courts rejected the ban), so the U.S. is where the injunction strategy is paying off. The story drew unusually broad pickup — The Verge, CNET, Wired, AllThingsD and the Washington Post all covered the same-day developments.
First-order effects
- Samsung loses U.S. distribution for its flagship Android phone for now, with Google halting Galaxy Nexus sales through the Play store to comply with the injunction.
- Apple's $95.6M bond makes the ban enforceable immediately, meaning Samsung bears the cost of lost sales even if the injunction is later overturned.
Second-order effects
- Google and Samsung are preparing a software patch to strip the infringing functionality, per AllThingsD's reporting — turning the legal fight into an engineering sprint to get the device back on shelves.
- Rival handset makers gain temporary U.S. shelf space at the height of the summer buying season, while carriers must weigh whether to keep stocking a device under active legal threat.
Third-order effects
- If bond-backed preliminary injunctions keep issuing, patent assertions in smartphones shift from seeking damages after the fact to freezing rival products at launch — making design-arounds and pre-clearance part of product planning.
- The U.S.-Germany split pushes litigants toward forum shopping, filing wherever injunctions are easiest to win rather than where sales are largest.
The trend: Smartphone patent warfare is moving from post-hoc damages to launch-blocking injunctions, with software patches as the standard escape hatch.