Apple must sit tight on Samsung device bans until Dec. 6 hearing, says judge

Apple’s request to ban eight Samsung smartphones from sale in the U.S. will have to wait until a Dec. 6 hearing, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh said in a court filing tonight.

Koh initially scheduled a hearing for Sept. 20 to hear injunction requests from Apple, following the iPhone maker’s massive win over Samsung on Friday. Now that hearing will be reserved for Samsung’s request to kill the preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet, which was granted to Apple back in June.

Koh said the following in today’s court filing: “Having considered the scope of Apple’s preliminary injunction request, the additional post-trial motions that the parties have already filed and will file, and the substantial overlap between the analysis required for Apple’s preliminary injunction motion and the parties’ various other post-trial motions, the Court believes consolidation of the briefing and hearing on the post-trial motions is appropriate.”

Clearly, Koh doesn’t want to rush through Apple’s injunction request (especially after the jury in the trial has caught flack for arguably rushing through their deliberations). The delay gives Samsung a bit more time to figure out how it can stop Apple’s injunction request, though it also means Apple’s lawyers will have time to sharpen their case as well. For now, you don’t have to worry about the Galaxy S II’s availability before December.

Via The Verge