Judge rejects Apple plea to ban Samsung phones

The judge also concluded that the public would be harmed if she ordered a ban.

“Though the phones do contain infringing features, they contain a far greater number of non-infringing features to which consumers would no longer have access if this Court were to issue an injunction,” the judge wrote. “The public interest does not support removing phones from the market when the infringing components constitute such limited parts of complex, multi-featured products.”

At the same time, the judge also rejected Samsung’s call for a new trial because of alleged juror misconduct.

Samsung had alleged jury foreman Velvin Hogan committed misconduct for failing to disclose that his former employer Seagate Technology filed a lawsuit against him in 1993. Samsung later acquired nearly 10% of Seagate.

Samsung alleged after the trial that Hogan had a bias against it because of its ownership stake in Seagate, a Northern California-based maker of computer hard drives.

The judge said Samsung had the ability to investigate whether Hogan was biased toward Samsung before trial started because the company's lawyer possessed Hogan's bankruptcy file, which included the lawsuit. She said Samsung objected too late to Hogan’s joining the jury.

“What changed between Samsung’s initial decision not to pursue questioning, or investigation of Mr. Hogan, and Samsung’s later decision to investigate was simple: the jury found against Samsung, and made a very large damages award,” the judge ruled.

Koh still has before her several other legal demands from both companies. Apple is seeking to increase the award while

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