Google recently mentioned that it will be releasing a software patch soon that will remove the potentially infringing search functionality from Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus smartphone, possibly helping it avoid the sales ban recently imposed by the U.S. court. The update will reportedly disable local search options from the unified search feature on the homescreen of the device. Voice search is also expected to be restricted to just web queries to follow the same subset of guidelines.
The news all comes in after Samsung went through another legal setback when U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh shut down the company’s request to stay the ban while it appeals. Although Apple asked for a preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Nexus on the basis of four patents, the court granted the company an injunction last week specifically for a search-related patent titled “Universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system.” Although Google has plans to remove the infringing search functionality, it isn’t clear yet whether Samsung will be allowed to sell the Galaxy Nexus after the patch is released. The court would still need to decide whether the new software actually removed the suspected infringement.
Samsung had responded to the situation noting that it was “disappointed” with the decisions recently made. In a statement to The Next Web, the company said it would continue with its appeal and keep “working closely” with Google on the issue. For those of you who are interested, Samsung’s full statement can be found below:
Samsung is disappointed with the court’s decision that denied our motion to stay. We believe today’s ruling will ultimately reduce the availability of superior products to consumers in the United States.
We will continue to pursue an appeal of the GALAXY Nexus preliminary injunction, which we filed on July 2 to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Meanwhile, we are also working closely with Google to resolve this matter, as the patent in question concerns Google’s unified search function.
We will continue to pursue an appeal of the GALAXY Nexus preliminary injunction, which we filed on July 2 to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Meanwhile, we are also working closely with Google to resolve this matter, as the patent in question concerns Google’s unified search function.
Source: The Next Web
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