A previously issued ITC import ban on certain Samsung devices was set to go into effect at midnight last night. The company has failed to obtain a veto against the ban from President Obama.
The Korean company had argued that the ban should be overturned on public policy grounds, especially since a similar order it won against Apple was vetoed by the administration in August. Samsung can now seek a delay in the ban from a U.S. appeals court that will consider the entire case on legal grounds.
“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 import ban to proceed, Obama’s designee, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, said in a statement today.
The US International Trade Commission ruled in favor of Apple back in August, and issued a sales ban on certain infringing Samsung devices in a case stemming from a countersuit filed by Apple back in 2011.
Samsung attempted to get a veto on the ban from the President, much like the one Obama handed down in a similar case involving a ban on some models of the iPad and iPhone that Samsung had won in a separate case. The President is the only person with the power to overturn an iTC import ban.
While some may see the lack of a veto in favor of Samsung as nationalist favoritism, issues involved in the two cases make them different. Samsung has the ability to work around the non-standard essential patents involved in the ban against them, while Apple’s involved standard essential patents that would have been tough to work around.
The case that led to the ban on Samsung devices covered touch screen features, and a feature that detects when a headset or other device is plugged into a device.
