Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 sales ban lifted in the US

So Apple has successfully ruined one competitor's ability to compete, innovate and bring products to market. And lost.<p>In a free market that should be the most punishable offense of all.<p>How much is that going to cost Apple? How many <i>billions</i> will they be forced to pay in punitive damages?<p>Will they be banned from making similar claims in the future? Have they lost "karma" so when serving the next "ban kthx plz"-request, they will have to prove their case more thoroughly? Will their existing, similarly baseless claims be re-investigated and maybe denied or withdrawn?<p>What have we (as people, and as a judicial system) learned from this which means we can punish abuse and avoid having cases like this happen again?<p>This is after all in the US, and in the US we do not want anything to hinder the free market, right?

So, if the ban was not justified does that mean Samsung now gets to claim losses?

I love and support apple from the first days when I went to canada I fell in love with Macs, we had those black and white ones and with Think Pascal. I wrote some code, got some A's for work and so on. I am not fan boy but I have deep respect for that Apple is to me and the industry.<p>Frankly it all has gotten out of hand - after all this is all is a good sport, bloody noses aren't necessary. Samsung should negotiate reasonable royalty, apple should agree. Slap on some disclaimer how "apple" their products are and apple should calm down and refocus on their products - as a leader of the industry. Perhaps look for another strict leader like Steve Jobs was - but with experience in the industry. Tim Cook with maps fiasco frankly didn't impress me at all. See comparision of two apology letters from cook and jobs.<p>And they should put it all behind.<p>However apple has been know as a being a brilliant kid with short attention span and tantrums to remember. So I'll make a bit of popcorn and watch on...

Note that the redress for lost sale is yet to be determined. Samsung may get some or all of the 2.6M bond Apple posted at the start of the injunction, although how much isn't clear.

It's worth pointing out that Samsung should have had this overturned a month ago when the jury made it's verdict( <a href="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/09/judge-cant-lift-ban-on-samsung-tablet-even-though-its-not-infringing/" rel="nofollow">http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/09/judge-cant-lift-b...</a> ), but could not, because they appealed the initial decision back in June. That moved the jurisdiction to the federal appeals courts. After the decision came down that they did not infringe with the Tab 10.1, Koh was not able to lift the ban until the jurisdiction issues were resolved.<p>Given that the court date was already settled at that point, and it would take several months to go through the appeals court, this was a pretty stupid move on Samsung's lawyer's part, because there was pretty much no hope that the case would be heard, or decided, by the time that the Apple case was done. Plus, since Samsung released the Tab 2 in May(and the Apple lawsuit did not cover that device), they were hardly in a position to argue that the decision was a terrible hardship on them. So it's not like they had much of a reason to even bother appealing, other than to waste billable hours.

I wonder if they can now pitch this as a marketing angle. Something like: "So good, they tried to ban it" or somesuch.

Go, Samsung, go!