Seems like Samsung is not the only company affected by the U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh’s decision to deny a request, to stay a ban on sales of the Galaxy Nexus, while its case with Apple is ongoing. The other company that isn’t liking this decision is Google.
The search engine giant is in a process to roll out a software patch for Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus device, that is believed to avoid the infringing Apple patent that led to the injunction.
The patch, when updated on the device, will simplify the home-screen based quick search option and will only show results that are restricted to the internet, disabling the local search options. The same will be applicable for voice enabled search option.
Google will not just stop at the software update. The company plans to support Samsung, not only in its appeal against the injunction, but will also challenge the universal search patent at issue in the case, challenging the validity of the patent and seeking a re-examination by the US Patent and Trademark office.
One would wonder as to why Google is going out of the way to support Samsung even though the Galaxy Nexus is not the best selling Android phone. Well, the device is strategic for Google as it is the first smartphone with Ice Cream Sandwich version of the operating system. Also, Galaxy Nexus is slated to be one of the first devices to get Jelly Bean when it is finalized later this summer, as the developers have already begun testing of the latest Android update on the said device.
Samsung said that it will continue to pursue an appeal of the Galaxy Nexus preliminary injunction, which was filed on July 2 to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Meanwhile, they are working closely with Google to resolve this matter, as the patent in question concerns Google’s unified search function.
For now we just have to wait and see, whether Samsung would be able to sell the Galaxy Nexus after the patch is released.
