Court denies Apple injunction in Samsung lawsuit

A US court has ruled against Apple’s request for an injunction blocking the sale of Samsung phones in the country.

The injunction was filed after a jury awarded $1.05 billion in damages to Apple after a lengthy legal battle over patents the iPhone manufacurer accused its rival of breaching.

In response to this decision, Samsung has withdrawn its own injunction filing against Apple in Europe, reports Reuters.

Bloomberg reports that Samsung has also requested US District Judge Lucy H. Koh to reduce the damages it owes Apple by $600 million.

Apple, meanwhile, is asking for an additional $536 million.

While the San Jose court has yet to return a verdict on the damages adjustment, the judge’s ruling on the injunction states the issue lay with consumer demand.

“Though evidence that Samsung attempted to copy certain Apple features may offer some limited support for Apple’s theory, it does not establish that those features actually drove consumer demand,” said Koh.

“The potential for future disruption to consumers would be significantly greater if this court were to issue an injunction, and such disruption cannot be justified."

The consequences could be equally disruptive to developers.

The US market is key to many game makers, and the choice customers make about what phones they buy can alter the bottom line for the hundreds of small mobile studios that have cropped up in response to massive demand for smartphone games.