Apple is still trying to get a complete ban on the Nexus after Judge Lucy Koh refused to allow it to be part of the current trial that is getting ready for both Samsung and Apple’s closing arguments. Now they are back and appealing the decision with someone else (if Mom won’t let you ask Dad). At the heart of this particular case of name calling is Apple’s claim that they invented Unified Search. As we have shown before that there is plenty of prior art to invalidate that claim, but Apple tends to
ignore these little items. In real terms Apple is looking to boost their stock prices a little more and also to try and breathe life back into the case that Samsung is evil and cannot innovate. It is a fairly lame and dirty thing to do to be perfectly honest. Still Apple will have a very hard time proving that the Galaxy Nexus impacted them financially or that people chose it for unified search.
The full case is not set to go to trial until 2014 which makes the likely hood of a ban even less (there would be a much more significant impact to Samsung than Apple at this point. Apple needs to get the competition off the shelves before September when it is expected they will launch the iPhone 5. You see if they do not then the new longer, thinner phone with NFC and smaller dock might look suspiciously like products that Samsung and others have been making for over two years. Right now people are high on buying Apple stock because of rumors about the new Phone and some carefully places articles with analysts like Piper Jaffrey (who are also financial consultants to Apple) We have seen this type of hysteria before and it can end up in a significant crash when investors realize that the new product is not the wonderful item that Apple has promised. This is probably why there are so many leaks about the new iPhone in the first place; Apple simply needs them to keep up the buzz about it.
For those that are dumping money into Apple today, you might want to remember that the ITC is going to give its final ruling on an infringement between Motorola and Apple. So far Apple has been found to be infringing so unless there has been some significant new evidence it is not likely that Apple will prevail. On top of that Motorola has opened a new complaint with the ITC and are asking for a complete import ban on Apple products they claim are infringing. Considering that all of Apple’s products are made overseas that one is well within the rights of the ITC to grant. Only time will tell if they do grant it and just how much Apple stocks will dive if it happens. If that decision ends up coinciding with a Samsung victory (even a partial one) it could be very bad news for Apple and their investors. Apple is not too big to fail and having a high market cap did not stop Microsoft from falling apart. If anything it makes you a bigger target for those nasty anti-trust suits….
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