Free for a Fee

The nation’s top patent court has said that Samsung should be banned from selling some of its older phones, unless certain features are disabled, due to its infringement of Apple’s patents.

The 2-1 ruling from the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is a rebuke to US District Judge Lucy Koh, who held that Apple should be satisfied with monetary damages, and didn’t deserve an injunction.

The market impact will likely be limited, since the lawsuit was filed in 2012 and covers products that came out that year, like the Galaxy S3. Furthermore, software updates to Samsung software mean that the patents may not be infringed anymore. For instance, Samsung’s Android phones no longer use a “slide to unlock” feature on the bottom of the phone.