Last year a judge granted an injunction on Samsung's Galaxy Nexus as part of a new round of legal battles between Apple and Samsung — a sales ban that was then reversed by an appeals court last October. Apple had asked the court to reconsider, but Reuters is now reporting it has has been denied. In an order today, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit noted that it was rejecting Apple's request for an en banc review — a reconsideration of the sales ban by all nine judges of the Appeals Court. It's important to note that such a review is rare, so the move doesn't come as a complete surprise.
The dispute in question is based around Apple's '604 patent, which both the company and the district court believe is infringed by unified search as implemented on the Galaxy Nexus. To justify the injunction, Apple would have to demonstrate that consumer demand for the Nexus was directly tied to the infringing feature — a tough standard to meet given the variety of features available on modern smartphones. That said, Cupertino does have one more option available: it could appeal to the Supreme Court itself. While it's not likely Apple's request would be accepted, one thing's for certain — the company has proven to be nothing if not tenacious.
Matt Macari contributed to this report.