ITC Excludes Samsung Products Infringing Apple Patents on August 9, 2013

On August 9, 2013, the ITC issued an order to exclude and a cease and desist order on the further importation, sale, and distribution of certain Samsung products because they infringe U.S. Patent No. 7,912,501, entitled, Audio I/O headset plug and plug detection circuitry, U.S. Patent No. 7,479,949 B2, entitled, Touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics.

It was not a complete sweep for Apple given the ITC found no infringement of Design Patent No. D618678 that relates to the appearance of the iPhone, Design Patent No. D558757 that relates to the appearance of the iPod Touch and iPad, and US Reissue Patent No. RE41922, entitled, Method and apparatus for providing translucent images on a computer display. The ITC also found U.S. Patent No. 7,789,697, entitled, Plug detection mechanisms invalid as anticipated by the prior art.

The order is stayed for 60 days pending President Obama's review. That review is likely to be politically charged in view of the Obama Administration's veto of Samsung exclusion order last week. Perhaps the prior Administrations were wise to not interfere with ITC over the last three decades. Now that the Obama Administration has taken on the rarified role of "second guessing" the ITC, others may be justified in guessing whether or not this has anything to do with Samsung's status as a foreign company.

Copyright © 2013 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.