Found infringing Apple patents, Google pulls the Galaxy Nexus

On the company's online store, IN STOCK is replaced by COMING SOON

Snapshot from the Google Store

FORTUNE -- Last Wednesday, Google (GOOG) gave the 6,000 developers attending its annual I/O conference free copies of the Galaxy Nexus -- a touchscreen smartphone jointly developed by Google and Samsung.

Three days later, a federal judge granted Apple (AAPL) a preliminary injunction against the same device, ruling that Cupertino's lawyers had made a persuasive case that the phone infringed at least one Apple patent and possibly three more.

As a result, Google has had to remove the Galaxy Nexus from its online store -- replacing the IN STOCK notice with one reading COMING SOON -- an odd message for a device that customers have been buying since November 2011.

Meanwhile, Google says it has developed a software patch to get around the contended patents, according to All Things Digital's Ina Fried, and plans to push it out "imminently."