Samsung to fight Apple's effort to ban sales of its smartphone

Computerworld - Samsung said Tuesday it will "take all necessary measures" to keep its products available for sale in the U.S.

The statement comes one day after Apple filed a request in federal court for a ban on eight smartphones that Samsung sells.

"We will take all necessary measures to ensure the availability of our products in the U.S. market," the Samsung statement said.

Samsung has the ability to file a motion to stop any legal injunction banning the sales, as well as to appeal an injunction, if granted.

Apple asked the U.S. District Court for Northern California for preliminary injunctions to ban sales of seven Galaxy smartphones and the Droid Charge.

The request came after a jury on Friday ruled that Samsung had infringed on Apple patents, and granted Apple damages of $1.05 billion. That amount could be tripled by presiding Judge Lucy Koh if she finds there was deliberate infringement of the patents.

The seven Galaxy phones included the ban request are the Galaxy S 4G, Galaxy S2 AT&T, Galaxy S2 Skyrocket, Galaxy S2 T-Mobile, Galaxy S2 Epic 4G, Galaxy S Showcase and the Galaxy Prevail.

Judge Koh is not expected to hold a hearing on the request for a preliminary injunction request Sept. 20.

The jury had found 28 products infringed on some of Apple's patents.

If the ban is granted, U.S. wireless carriers who stock and sell the affected devices would be required to take them off their shelves.

The eight products Apple requested be banned don't include the Galaxy S III or Galaxy Note, but patent experts said Apple could push for an open-ended injunction that includes any product, even those not released for sale, if it believes they infringe on Apple patents in a significant way.

Samsung has already indicated it plans to appeal the jury's judgment from Friday.

Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen, or subscribe to Matt's RSS feed . His e-mail address is mhamblen@computerworld.com.

Read more about Smartphones in Computerworld's Smartphones Topic Center.