Forget about their being a legal system in place the US Government acting on the direction of US President Barack Obama has chosen to not enforce a ban on Apple devices despite an International Trade Commission finding that the US Company openly breached Samsung patents.
The Obama decision which some say makes a mockery of US legal process will result in Apple products not being banned from arriving in the USA.
The ITC had recommended a US import ban on the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and the 3G versions of the iPad and iPad 2 on the grounds that they violated a Samsung patent.
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman made the decision to veto the ban on the Apple devices, citing concerns about patent holders gaining “undue leverage” as well as potential harm to consumers and competitive conditions in the U.S. economy.
He said Samsung could continue to pursue its patent rights through the courts.
In a letter to the ITC he wrote: “The Policy Statement expresses substantial concerns, which I strongly share, about the potential harms that can result from owners of standards ?essential patents (“SEPs”) who have made a voluntary commitment to offer to license SEPs on terms that are fair, reasonable, and non?discriminatory (“FRAND”), gaining undue leverage and engaging in “patent hold?up”, i.e., asserting the patent to exclude an implementer of the standard from a market to obtain a higher price for use of the patent than would have been possible before the standard was set, when alternative technologies could have been chosen.”
The presidential order is significant because it is the first time the POTUS has intejected into a trade dispute since the 1987 Reagan administration.
A Samsung executive said “What is the point of having a legal system when a President is going to veto a ruling”
Another executive from a Japanese Company who has a case before the ITC said “It appears that the US Government is sanctioning Apple to steal patents. They don’t like it when someone copies a US patent but it’s okay for Apple to steal Samsung patents. The Chinese are going to really like this when someone complains about a Chinese Company copying US patents and Design”.
