Apple meets Samsung but this time Obama helps Apple
Obama has decided to veto a decision made by the ITC the International Trade Commission which reads a ban on sales of iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, 3G iPad and 3G iPad 2 models that were found to infringe on a certain standards-essential (FRAND) patent by the ITC . The ban was supposed to be enforced starting with August 5 but the Obama administration has decided to veto the decision of the International Trade Commission and now the decision will not be enforced. We should say though that some of the products that the ban was supposed to include are already discontinued such as the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS and the iPad. Such ban has not happened since 1987 and such decision is really uncommon for the White House. It was explained that the administration was concerned with the patent holder, Samsung, gaining “undue leverage” when pursuing such FRAND-cases with the ITC. The full decision can be read down in the Source link or if you click this.
Samsung, however, can sue Apple at any US court. However, so far Samsung has not been able to win a case neither in Europe, nor in the US regarding the 3G-related FRAND patents
The first Apple vs Samsung case was won in a clear win for Apple with $1 billion amount decided to go to Apple, later reduced to $500 million but both companies have appealed the decision so nothing is final there yet.
Despite today’s surprising decision, and all the fuss around the plans and decisions of both companies it is supposed that there will not be any peace between them. The legal warfare that they have both launched against each other is becoming ever more powerful and there are still a lot of juries and judges to decide on which one has infringed which other’s patents.
Source: The document
