Droid Talks: Galaxy Nexus Hoopla Explained

Last two weeks has been really great in he tech world, new version of Android, Jelly Bean coming out, new devices from Google, Google Now, etc. However, Apple continues to be a sort of patent troll, and this time they have decided to attack Google’s own device, the Galaxy Nexus itself. Read on to know about the entire story about why it was temporarily banned, taken off the Play store and how it returned to the Play store.

Patent infringement and banning

Apple was granted a temporary injunction against the sales of Galaxy Nexus in the U.S on June 29th, just a day after the Google I/O keynote where Android 4.1, Jelly Bean was announced and all the developers present there were given a Galaxy nexus.This injunction was a result of a case filed by Apple against Samsung in February.

Judge Lucy Koh decided on 29th June that Samsung infringed on 4 of Apple’s patents. The patents being, 8,086,604 (‘604) (A device being able to search multiple sources: Siri), patent 5,946,647  (actionable linking), patent 8,046,721 (slide to unlock) and patent 8,074,172 (touch screen word suggestion). For the injunction to be permanent Apple has to make a bond of $96 Million, and they must be not be able to prove against the infringed patents. This was the main reason why Google included the permanent quick search box on top in Android 4.0 in the Galaxy Nexus.

Taken down from Play store

The Galaxy nexus was taken down from the Google Play store on July 3, 2012. They gave a reason of Jelly Bean update but taking it down during the ban, well it can’t be a coincidence. I use a Galaxy Nexus and consider it as a really solid device. It would be really sad to see this device getting banned because of a patent troll.

Lifting of ban and reappearance on the Play store

Now fast forwarding to July 7th, Samsung appealed, and the court temporarily lifted the ban. However there is a high chance of Apple convincing the court to ban the device until the court case ends. Apple has until Thursday to produce arguments based on that. On the 8th of July, the Galaxy Nexus reappeared on the Google Play store with Jelly Bean, which is not infringing the Apple patents. Though the shipment of these devices will take 2-3 weeks.

So that’s the entire story, now we wait for Apple to respond and I hope everything goes alright and Galaxy Nexus ban is lifted permanently.