Apple wins ITC ban on Samsung products [updated with ITC's final determination]
Apple was dealt a significant win in its ongoing patent duel with Samsung on Friday when the U.S. International Trade Commission handed down a ruling that will likely see the ban of infringing products made by the South Korean company.
The ITC's final determination found Samsung to have infringed on two Apple patents, one for a touchscreen control method and another for headphone I/O tech, which means an import ban on offending products has been ordered, reports FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller.
Before the ban can take effect, it must undergo a 60-day Presidential review period that could see a reversal of the ITC order. Such was the case with a recent Samsung complaint against Apple, which saw the ITC's ban of older devices like the iPhone 4 reversed by a veto from the U.S. Trade Representative.
Mueller points out that the effect of Friday's import ban is depends largely on the workarounds Samsung applies to infringing products. These product adjustments can, at times, come in the form of tweaked capabilities, or even the outright removal of features. It remains to be seen what Samsung will choose to do with the devices, but the ITC order will likely have some sort of impact on the company's product line moving forward.
Friday's ruling is the result of an investigation into Administrative Law Judge Thomas Pender's initial determination from October 2012, which found Samsung to have infringed on Apple's patents. Both parties were unsatisfied with the jurist's decision and brought the issue to the Commission hoping for further clarification.
The trade body agreed to investigate, subsequently remanding two patents-in-suit back to Judge Pender. The Commission's final determination is based on the remand initial determination, as well as a full review of the case and parties' arguments.
Update: Samsung later had this to say about Friday's decision (via The Verge):
The ITC's final determination found Samsung to have infringed on two Apple patents, one for a touchscreen control method and another for headphone I/O tech, which means an import ban on offending products has been ordered, reports FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller.
Before the ban can take effect, it must undergo a 60-day Presidential review period that could see a reversal of the ITC order. Such was the case with a recent Samsung complaint against Apple, which saw the ITC's ban of older devices like the iPhone 4 reversed by a veto from the U.S. Trade Representative.
Mueller points out that the effect of Friday's import ban is depends largely on the workarounds Samsung applies to infringing products. These product adjustments can, at times, come in the form of tweaked capabilities, or even the outright removal of features. It remains to be seen what Samsung will choose to do with the devices, but the ITC order will likely have some sort of impact on the company's product line moving forward.
Friday's ruling is the result of an investigation into Administrative Law Judge Thomas Pender's initial determination from October 2012, which found Samsung to have infringed on Apple's patents. Both parties were unsatisfied with the jurist's decision and brought the issue to the Commission hoping for further clarification.
The trade body agreed to investigate, subsequently remanding two patents-in-suit back to Judge Pender. The Commission's final determination is based on the remand initial determination, as well as a full review of the case and parties' arguments.
Update: Samsung later had this to say about Friday's decision (via The Verge):
Apple's statement reads more like boilerplate:We are disappointed that the ITC has issued an exclusion order based on two of Apple?s patents. However, Apple has been stopped from trying to use its overbroad design patents to achieve a monopoly on rectangles and rounded corners. The proper focus for the smartphone industry is not a global war in the courts, but fair competition in the marketplace. Samsung will continue to launch many innovative products and we have already taken measures to ensure that all of our products will continue to be available in the United States.
With today's decision, the ITC has joined courts around the world in Japan, Korea, Germany, Netherlands and California by standing up for innovation and rejecting Samsung's blatant copying of Apple's products. Protecting real innovation is what the patent system should be about.
Comments
Complete bull. If Obama doesn't VETO this then he's nothing but a protectionist.
opps, /S for those who don't get it.
So why does it impact older Samsung products only as many sources are reporting now?
Doesn't S4 use multi-touch?
Obama has publicly expressed his distaste for all these patent lawsuits and with the recent veto on the Apple import ban it will certainly be interesting to see what happens.
To: Steve, Tim, Apple and every iFan ....
Quote:
Originally Posted by DroidFTW
Obama has publicly expressed his distaste for all these patent lawsuits and with the recent veto on the Apple import ban it will certainly be interesting to see what happens.
I think he was targeting the FRAND ones, which these are not. Standard Essential Patents are a separate issue from the sort in this court case.
I doubt it these are not FRAND.
First the ITC bans Apple stuff, then the ITC bans Samsung stuff. Sounds like there's some confusion going on in those offices.
That being said, I'm very happy with this verdict. Where Scamscum tried banning Apple based on FRAND, and SEP's nonsense, at least this is bonafide non-SEP, serious patents. Good for Apple.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DroidFTW
Obama has publicly expressed his distaste for all these patent lawsuits and with the recent veto on the Apple import ban it will certainly be interesting to see what happens.
Tim Cook also said he hates litigation -- do as I say, not as I do.
Obama just signed into law the Patent Law Treaties Implementation Act of 2012, introduced just as Apple vs Samsung trial started in August -- the law, not surprisingly, expands the scope of design patents (easier to patent and litigate) and strongly favors Apple. Then came the ITC import ban veto.
Obama is nothing more than a corporatist & a fan of economic protectionism and bailout; couldn't care about the patent lawsuit so long as it protects America's too-big-to-fail. I have no problem with this at all; after all, I guess it's his job to protect American economic interests, but, please, let's not pretend that this is all about patent lawsuits.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dasanman69
A good win indeed. What devices are banned?
Mostly, if not all, old and discontinued products.
However, Samsung must watch his shit not to mess up its current / upcoming stupid products not to copy Apple's.
Plus, they are going to lose their credit as retailers will be worried if / how long they can continue selling their products.
In other words, they are well-deserved (pardon me as english is not my 1st language) fucked!
Yes, but the S4 wasn't out when this case was started, so it's not included. Furthermore, Samsung claims that they have a workaround so Apple can't automatically add the S4 to the list of infringing devices.
Apple will have to file a separate case against the S4 (or maybe they've already done so), prove that the S4 infringes, and then get it banned. The process is slow enough that devices are already obsolete before they get banned.
In theory, the court system could award damages that would compensate Apple and would be high enough to stop future infringement, but that's slow, too, and the damages awarded were only a small fraction of Samsung's profits from infringing, so there's really not much incentive to stop the infringement.
Good news there... Will have to wait and figure out what models are in question here for the ban.
Pointless if some really old model's are being banned.
The method of multi-touch and the headphone detection when plugged, these sounds like very fundamental to the phone.
I am guessing every device model till date would be infringing those.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jfc1138
I think he was targeting the FRAND ones, which these are not. Standard Essential Patents are a separate issue from the sort in this court case.
Absolutely!
The Samsung patents are not "standard-essential".
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323977304579002793571156348.html
I read that they can fast track another case alleging the same patent abuse against new devices if this went through. That was said to be why they continued with this case even though the devices are basically out of the market anyway.