(By Balaseshan) Samsung Electronics Co. reportedly decided to drop its suit against Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) in five European countries, hours after a California judge denied Apple's request to ban 26 Samsung devices.
Samsung would drop its injunction applications against Apple Inc. in Germany, France, the U.K., Italy and the Netherlands, but will continue to pursue lawsuits in Europe where it alleges infringements on its products, the Wall Street Journal reported citing a Samsung senior executive.
"Samsung has decided to withdraw our injunction requests against Apple on the basis of our standard-essential patents pending in European courts, in the interest of protecting consumer choice," the company said in a official statement, as quoted by the Forbes.
U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh denied Apple's request on the grounds that Apple had failed to prove the infringing products harmed iPhone sales enough, according to the WSJ report.
Judge Lucy Koh found that Apple had not adequately demonstrated that it would suffer irreperable harm if 26 Samsung devices were pulled from the market, according to PCMag.
"The fact that Apple may have lost customers and downstream sales to Samsung is not enough to justify an injunction. Samsung may have cut into Apple's customer base somewhat, but there is no suggestion that Samsung will wipe out Apple's customer base or force Apple out of the business of making smartphones," Judge Koh ruled in a court filing, as quoted by the WSJ.
Koh is also considering Samsung's request to reduce the $1.05 billion verdict awarded to Apple in August in the case, according to the WSJ.
AAPL is trading up 1.03% at $524.15 on Tuesday. The stock has been trading between $380.48 and $705.07 for the past 52 weeks.