Samsung ‘disappointed; Apple praises administration.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: A proposed ban on the sale of older iPod and iPhone models has been turned down by the Obama administration. This comes after a recent ruling that confirmed Samsung’s claim to certain technologies and software that Apple then took and repurposed for its vastly more popular iPhone.
Samsung released a statement following the announcement, saying it was “disappointed”. Apple, on the other hand, seized the opportunity to turn public opinion in its favor, accusing Samsung of trying to take advantage of the patent system and praising the White House for stopping the proposed ban.
The ban began this past June, when the International Trade Commission (ITC) declared a ban on the sales of iPhone 4 and 3GS, and iPad 3G and 2 3G, by service provider AT&T because they infringed on a patent that was owned by a South Korean-based software manufacturer. The rejection of the ban essentially reverses the earlier court ruling in Samsung’s favor, as making sales of these products legal means Apple is selling technology that supposedly was Samsung’s originally.
The Obama administration has been adamant in the past about punishing copyright infringement as severely as possible, so this latest action comes as a bit of a surprise. Nevertheless, the iPhone 4, despite not being the phone’s latest iteration, is still a very high seller in the US. iPhones overall sell close to 100 million units annually.
It seems that the war between Apple and Samsung, iPhone and Android, which has been going on since 2010, will not be ending any time soon.