The Obama
administration has upheld United States International Trade Council’s (USITC)
ban on some Samsung products which allegedly infringed on two Apple patents.
Obama’s administration had earlier vetoed a similar ruling that banned Apple’s
product sales for infringing Samsung patents.
The USITC
delivered a ruling in August which banned some Samsung products for sale in the
United States for infringing on two Apple patents about touchscreen actions and
headphone jack plug-ins. Earlier, Obama had vetoed the ruling that banned some Apple products for infringing Samsung’s patents.
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| Img: Phys.org |
The
administration cited the patent as standard-essential and could have given
Samsung an unfair advantage in the smartphone market if it went through.
Aftermath of this saw Apple make a counter litigation about its patent
infringed by Samsung.
A ban was issued by the USITC on Samsung products in the United States. The speculations
were diverse with some claiming Obama could veto it or not. I knew he would not
and I indicated it in the post and now, the ban has been allowed to hold.
“After
carefully weighing policy considerations, including the impact on consumers and
competition, advice from agencies and information from interested parties, I
have decided to allow the commission’s determination to become final,” US Trade
Representative Michael Froman said in a statement.
Froman claims
there was no reason to disapprove it since newer Samsung devices that made a
work around technology were not affected.
“The order
expressly states that these devices and any other Samsung electronic media
devices incorporating the approved design-around technologies are not covered,”
Froman said. “Thus I do not believe that concerns with regard to enforcement
related to the scope of the order, in this case, provide a policy basis for
disapproving it.”
Samsung sent
a letter after the ruling in August asking for a veto of the ruling from the
United States government since it gave it to the US based Apple.
“The administration
has a significant interest in avoiding the perception of favoritism and
protectionism toward U.S. companies,” Samsung said in the letter to Froman.
“Samsung urges the USTR to look beyond the short-term impact of the orders
issued in this investigation and consider the broader policy implications of
those orders.”
This step
will not go down well with Samsung and even the South Korean government which
said it was monitoring the situation in August. Samsung will be able to delay the trade ban if it decides to appeal the ruling in the Court of Appeal.
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Obama supports Samsung products sales ban