No U.S. Ban on Sale of Galaxy S5, Other Samsung Devices as Apple Loses Court Case (VIDEOS)

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Cupertino-based tech giant Apple lost again its legal bid to prevent Seoul-based rival Samsung from selling its popular devices in the U.S. The Thursday decision by Judge Lucy Koh of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California covered 23 Samsung Electronics products that breached Apple patents.

These are patents for touch screen functionalities, particularly the pinch to zoom patent, double-tap-to-zoom patent and the snap back patent.

YouTube/MG Siegler

While a jury had found Samsung products have indeed infringed on Apple patents and awarded Apple $1 billion in damage, Ms Koh thumbed down evidence presented by Apple that these three touchscreen software features are the reasons why Samsung consumers buy its devices.

The initial damage awarded by a federal jury in San Jose, California, was $290 million, while the original award that was not in dispute in a retrial was $640 million.

Apple did not meet the burden of proof that would warrant the issuance of a permanent injunction against Samsung products, which could potentially include newer gadgets that use the 3 touchscreen features such as the newly launched Galaxy S5.

YouTube/Samsung Mobile

Ms Koh stressed that there was not a single market research study made outside litigation which asked about the patented features, but there are other studies commissioned by the two feuding tech giants that said consumer value a multitude of features.

The judge said the $1 billion damage awarded to Apple should be enough compensation for the patent breach since it is just a small part of the product that the tech firms make.

Apple and Samsing did not agree on a settlement in February, leading to another round of hearings presided by Ms Koh.