US. court wary of Apple patent dispute

LITIGATION • A U.S. appeals court Friday showed few signs it was prepared to support a request by Apple Inc. to block immediately the sale of some Samsung Electronics smartphones and tablets.

In a high-stakes patent dispute, the court heard arguments about whether a federal trial judge acted correctly in December when she ruled Apple failed to provide enough evidence to support an injunction of Samsung’s Galaxy product line.

The court’s judges reacted with skepticism to a premise put forward by Apple’s lawyer that for the purpose of getting an injunction, Apple does not need to show patent infringement would directly cause a loss of customers.

Apple’s lawyer, Michael Jacobs, said it is enough to show Samsung likely infringed on Apple’s patents used in products such as the iphone, and that Apple is likely to be hurt.

The trial judge found both those things but not enough evidence of a causal link.