Apple sues Samsung, seeks to block Galaxy Nexus in U.S.

Apple has filed a new federal lawsuit against Samsung in the U.S., accompanied by a motion seeking a ban on sales of the Galaxy Nexus. FOSS Patents reports that Apple filed both in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California; the preliminary injunction filing has been released, while the main complaint has not yet entered public record. According to the report, Apple is asserting four patents in its injunction request, including the “data tapping” patent which led the International Trade Commission to order an import ban against HTC, a patent related to Siri and unified search, a new slide-to-unlock patent, and a word completion patent. The report notes that unlike Apple’s prior motion for an injunction against Samsung products—which was denied by Judge Judy Koh, to whom the new case has also been assigned—this filing is based on strong technical patents, as opposed to the design-related patents asserted previously. The move to block the Galaxy Nexus in particular is notable, as the device was developed by Samsung in close cooperation with Google, and serves as the flagship device for Android 4.0, meaning that “Google cannot deny its undivided responsibility for any infringement findings”.