14 DAY TRIAL // Back when Apple somehow won a now overturned (sort of) injunction against Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in Germany and Australia, people thought the same would happen in the US and everywhere else, but they have just been proven wrong.
Apple itself probably hoped that the rulings in those two regions would be reflected in the US on what just got decided upon.
Alas, its dreams did not come true, as Judge Lucy Koh rejected the injunction demand.
For those people who like all the judicial back and forth, the full ruling can be read here.
Had Apple won, Samsung would have been forbidden from selling a number of smartphones and tablets in the United States.
As it is, though, even if Apple does eventually win the patent war (after months and months), Samsung won't have to do anything besides pay damages on infringing products.
Even this eventual victory isn't expected, not even close, as only two of the four contested patents are seen as likely valid and likely infringed.
The court made a point of explaining that, even if the patents prove valid and enforceable, the product sales won't actually inflict irreparable harm on Apple.
The only patent that might cause such harm was viewed as probably invalid in the lights of Knight Ridder prior art.
In layman terms, even if Apple complains about Samsung blatantly copying its innovations, at least one of those innovations doesn't actually belong to it.
Samsung was understandably pleased and is confident that it will finish the fight with victory in hand.
As for Apple, it did not hold any official announcement on the matter, verbose or otherwise, but there is little doubt that it will try its best to prove its case.
Knowing how these lawsuits proceed, though, it will have to wait months before the next courtroom steps are taken.