US judge denies Apple injunction against Samsung tablet

The ruling, which boosted shares in the South Korean electronics maker, follows a similar decision in Australia where Apple has also sought to block Samsung's products on the grounds of patent infringement.
Australia's ban on the sale of the Galaxy Tab is scheduled to lift later in the week, pending a full patent infringement trial.
Samsung has already introduced a new version of the Tab in Germany to circumvent a ruling against it there, in a global patent war between the two companies in which Apple argues that Samsung had copied Apple's technology and user interface for its own tablets and smartphones.
California District Court Judge Judy Koh ruled, however, that there was not enough evidence to satisfy demands for a preliminary injunction, meaning that Samsung will be able to continue selling its products while Apple pursues its case in what is likely to be a protracted legal battle.  The trial is set to begin in July 2012.
Calling a preliminary injunction an "extraordinary remedy," Koh said that she was not convinced that Apple would be able to prove it would suffer irreparable harm without such a ruling.
"It is not clear that an injunction on Samsung's accused devices would prevent Apple from being irreparably harmed," she wrote.
"Indeed, given the evidence Samsung presented, it seems likely that a major beneficiary of an injunction would be other smartphone manufacturers."//DPA