Obama administration vetoes ITC ban on iPhone and iPads

President Obama and his administration has vetoed a ban imposed on the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad 3G and iPad 2 3G by the ITC, a ban that would have gone into effect on August 5 but was vetoed just before its 60-day review period ended, with Ambassador Michael Froman, a U.S. trade representative, saying the decision was made after taking into account the “effect on competitive conditions in the U.S. economy and the effect on U.S. consumers.”

Samsung had been granted a win in one of its cases where Apple was found to be infringing one of Samsung’s standard-essential patents (SEP). SEPs are industry standard patents that must be licensed on a fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory basis (FRAND), but Apple believed Samsung was being exactly the opposite of fair in licensing the patent to Apple, which naturally Samsung opposed, saying the company “had been negotiating in good faith and that Apple remains unwilling to take a license.”

Well, whether it was Apple or Samsung that was at fault is a discussion for another time (and something we’ll never find out), but for now Samsung has been dealt quite a blow in its ongoing patent disputes with Apple. I guess they’ll just have to look forward to the next time they’re in court with the iPhone maker and hope they can grab a permanent win in whatever they’re fighting over then.