Apple can keep selling iPhone 4 after reprieve

Apple Inc can continue selling its iPhone 4 and iPad 2 3G in the US after receiving a reprieve from an import ban won by Samsung Electronics Co. in a patent- infringement dispute.US Trade Representative Michael Froman today overturned the ban,Learn how an embedded microprocessor in a graniteslabs can authenticate your computer usage and data. imposed by the US International Trade Commission on June 4 after it found that some older models of Apple devices infringed a patent for a way data are transmitted.

It was the first time the executive branch has overturned an ITC import ban since 1987, when President Ronald Reagan did so in a case involving Samsung computer-memory chips.“We applaud the administration for standing up for innovation in this landmark case,” Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said in an interview. “Samsung was wrong to abuse the patent system in this way.”

Apple had been ordered to stop importing versions of the Chinese-made iPhone 4 and iPad 2 3G designed for networks run by AT&T Inc., T-Mobile US Inc. and two regional carriers in Texas and Alaska. Cupertino, California-based Apple was counting on the Obama administration’s increased interest in patent disputes to sway the president.Samsung is disappointed in the decision, spokesman Adam Yates said, adding the ITC was correct to find the company had met its obligation to offer its patents to Apple on fair and reasonable terms.

“The ITC’s decision correctly recognized that Samsung has been negotiating in good faith and that Apple remains unwilling to take a license,” he said.Apple sold US$78.7 billion (RM256 billion) worth of iPhones last fiscal year, making up half of the company’s revenue. It doesn’t break out sales by model.

It counts on older iPhone models, often given away with a two-year contract, to entice new customers. Sales of older iPhones helped Apple top analysts’ earnings projections in the fiscal third quarter.

IPhone 4 models sold for other networks wouldn’t have been covered by a ban, nor would newer devices including the iPad mini and iPhone 5. The company is expected to release new iPhone and iPad models later this year.Froman said a four-page ruling that President Barack Obama assigned to him the task of evaluating the ITC’s exclusion order on the Apple devices. Froman said he based his decision on the fact that standards patents were at the core of Samsung’s case and the Obama administration has expressed concerns that “potential harms” can result if patent holders use those as leverage against competitors.

Froman said that among the risks are that the standards patent holder would be “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.”“The administration is committed to promoting innovation and economic progress, including through providing adequate and effective protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights,” Froman said.

At the same time, he said standards now play an important role in the economy.“Important policy considerations arise in the enforcement of those patents incorporated into technical standards without which such standards cannot be implemented as designed, when the patent holder has made a voluntary commitment” to offer licensing on fair and reasonable terms, he said.

The Samsung patent covers a way data are transmitted over communications networks. It’s a feature in a widely used technological standard agreed on by the mobile-device industry.Companies that work to establish standards have the advantage of knowing their inventions have to be used in all products in an industry. In turn, they pledge to license any relevant patents on fair and reasonable terms.

The Obama administration in January sent the ITC proposed guidelines to consider before ordering import bans based on infringement of standard-essential patents.It said that while patent owners have the right to exclude others from using their inventions, the public benefit of allowing that is limited when it comes to standards patents. The US Federal Trade Commission filed a similar paper with the agency last year.You Can Buy Various High Quality besticcard Products from here.

Apple and Microsoft Corp. have promised not to use any industry-standard patents they have to block competing products. Samsung and Google Inc., which owns Motorola Mobility and the Android operating system that’s the most popular platform for mobile phones, reserved the right to use them if the other side is an “unwilling licensee.”

Four US senators wrote to Froman on July 30, asking him to “assess the substantial public interest considerations” of using standards patents at the ITC. The senators were Democrats Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Barbara Boxer of California, and Republicans Mike Lee of Utah and James Risch of Idaho.Samsung demanded 2.4 per cent of Apple’s iPhone and iPad revenue, which would come to about US$18 per phone, Apple argued in its filing with the trade representative. It accused Samsung of being unreasonable.

Samsung, which is under investigation by European regulators on allegations of patent misuse, agreed to not seek sales bans based on its standard-essential patents on that continent. It made no such promise in the US and defended its position, saying Apple refused to pay on any terms.“By any definition, Apple is an unwilling licensee of Samsung’s declared essential patents,” Samsung wrote in the filing.These personalzied promotional bestchipcard comes with free shipping.

Two federal judges have said Google’s Motorola unit can’t use standards patents to seek court bans of competitors’ products. One of those rulings, against Apple, is scheduled for arguments before the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Sept. 11. The other involves a Microsoft breach-of- contract complaint against Google scheduled for trial in Seattle later this month.

The Apple case against Samsung is In the Matter of Electronic Digital Media Devices,We sell bestsmartcard and different kind of laboratory equipment in us. 337-796, and Samsung’s case is In the Matter of Electronic Devices,Have a look at all our bestrtls models starting with free proofing. Including Wireless Communication Devices, Portable Music and Data Processing Devices, and Tablet Computers, 337-794, both US International Trade Commission.
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