Apple Bans Sales of Select Samsung Smartphones in the United States

Well, it’s been over seven years now since the well documented and, needless to say, expensive, courtroom rivalry between Apple and Samsung was initially brought to the table.

It’s been a long back-and-forth between the two tech-giants, indeed, as they’ve hashed it out in various courts and jurisdictions in the United States — with all the appeals and objections and counter claims, to boot. Now, however, so it seems, Apple has scored yet another small victory in the ongoing saga.

U.S. Magistrate judge Lucy Koh — who has presided over the majority of cases between the two Smartphone makers thus far — has officially called for a ban on the sales of several older Samsung handsets in the United States.

The smartphones in question, which happen to include some of Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S line (from years ago and pictured above), were determined to have infringed on either one, or all three, patents that judge Koh noted were exclusive to Apple — including the company’s ‘slide to unlock’ feature, quick links in the messaging app, and autocorrect functionality.

The ban, however — at least at this stage in the game — isn’t necessarily a huge victory for Apple, seeing as how Samsung has stopped selling or, in most cases, discontinued the majority of the handsets in question. The banned handsets include the Samsung Admire, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy S2, Galaxy S2 Epic 4G Touch, Galaxy S2 Skyrocket, Galaxy S3, and Stratosphere.

All of these handsets, as we mentioned, have been off the shelves for well over a year now, anyways, so it’s unlikely the ban on them will make a big dent in Samsung’s position in the U.S. market — at least from a business standpoint.

Judge Koh added, in the filing, “Apple will suffer irreparable harm if Samsung continues to make use of the infringing features, that monetary damages cannot adequately compensate Apple for this resulting irreparable harm, and that the balance of equities and public interest favor entry of a permanent injunction.”

Yikes.. Sounds like Samsung will have to sit down and get back to the drawing board now, as any future infringements on these patents could have additional and irreparable, long-term implications for the South Korean smartphone maker.

Hopefully they play their cards right, though — if they know what’s good for them, right?