Apple takes quest for Samsung product ban to appeals court

Apple has decided to appeal a federal judge's ruling that denied the company's request to ban 26 Samsung products.

In August, a jury ruled that the Samsung products had infringed a handful of Apple patents and ordered the South Korean tech giant to pay $1.05 billion in damages to the maker of the iPhone. Apple then sought a potentially more devastating punishment against Samsung by requesting a permanent injunction against those products. While many of the Samsung products in question are older, such a move could be used as leverage in a second lawsuit pending in federal court that involves some of Samsung's most popular current products, including the Galaxy S III smartphone. However, U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh recently ruled that Apple had failed to demonstrate that the features at issue were significant enough to play a big role in persuading consumers to buy one phone or the other. As expected, Apple informed Koh on Thursday that it intends to appeal that decision to 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Judge Koh still has yet to rule on Apple's request to increase the damages verdict by $500 million. Samsung, which was denied by Koh its request for a new trial, is also expected to appeal the case.