The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) staff has upheld the preliminary ruling by Administrative Judge Thomas Pender that said Samsung violated four of Apple’s patents. They agreed that Samsung was not guilty of infringing two others. Both Samsung and Apple had requested the review.
The ITC staff has supported the initial ruling, saying that Judge Pender “did not commit legal or factual error” and denied Samsung’s petition in its entirety. Most of Apple’s request was also denied, with the exception of the Samsung Transform suggested by the staff as having infringed an Apple patent where it was previously found non-infringing.
Apple also expected to obtain a victory on review of a design patent for the iPhone 3GS, and also a patent on “plug detection mechanisms.” Samsung had hoped the victory would be set aside. Patent analyst Florian Mueller said that “Samsung’s petition for review appears to re-raise pretty much every issue: claim construction, infringement, validity.” It was clear that the ITC staff disagreed with Samsung, given their ruling.
This is not a full and final ruling, but the staff decision is likely to weigh heavily on any final ruling.
Apple’s original complaint was filed in June against six Samsung smartphones and two versions of the Galaxy Tab.
