Apple Loses U.S. Bid to Block Samsung Sales

By Jun Yang - Dec 5, 2011 2:00 PM GMT+0700

Samsung Electronics Co. (005930), the world’s largest maker of mobile phones, rose in Seoul trading after Apple Inc. (AAPL) lost a bid to block sales of the South Korean company’s Galaxy phones and tablet computers in the U.S.

Samsung gained 1.5 percent to 1.06 million won at the close of trading in Seoul, while the benchmark Kospi index gained 0.4 percent.

The U.S. District Court in San Jose, California, ruled Dec. 3 against Apple’s plea to ban Samsung from selling its 4G smartphone and Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer in the country. The victory builds on an Australian court ruling last month that lifted an earlier injunction on the tablet in the country. Samsung and Apple have filed at least 30 suits against each other on four continents since April.

“The situation is turning positive for Samsung,” Seoul- based analysts C.W. Chung and Marcello Ahn at Nomura Holdings Inc. wrote in a note today. “In the best case, Samsung will be able to receive patent license fees from Apple.”

The conflict will probably continue regardless of the San Jose ruling, said Trip Chowdhry, an analyst at Global Equities Research in San Francisco.

“It’s getting more convoluted,” he said by phone today. “I don’t think this will be over. I do see that there may be some negotiated settlement, but not anytime soon.”

Apple won a one-week extension of the Australian ban on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 on Dec. 2, effective until the country’s top court considers the iPad maker’s request for permission to appeal the Nov. 30 decision by a lower court.

Samsung modified the tablet’s design last month and renamed it Galaxy Tab 10.1N to avoid a German sales ban upheld by a Dusseldorf court in September.

In October, Samsung changed the way photos are browsed on three Galaxy-phone models for the Dutch market to bypass an injunction won by Apple in August.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jun Yang in Seoul at jyang180@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Tighe at mtighe4@bloomberg.net