Ruling against Samsung to be reviewed by ITC

Back in December, the ITC ruled that Samsung had infringed on 4 of Apple's patents. Samsung was found not to have infringed on two other patents belonging to its rival. It wouldn't be much of a surprise to hear that Samsung had asked for a review, but Apple also is seeking a review of the initial ruling. So now that ruling heads back to Judge Thomas Pender along with instructions from the commission relating to two of the patents Samsung was deemed to have infringed on. The original case involved six smartphones and two Samsung Galaxy Tab tablets.

Once Judge Pender rules again, the full commission will get involved and both Samsung and Apple will file briefs on the ruling. If the six-member commission finds that the initial ruling is valid, the ITC could issue sales bans in the U.S. against the offending Samsung devices. At this stage, it is unclear if the review is aiming to overturn Judge Pender's initial ruling against Samsung, or to help Apple strengthen its position against Samsung with an eye toward obtaining an exclusion order. The initial ruling by the Judge proposed a sales ban on certain Samsung products, a cease and desist order against the Korean manufacturer, a bond in the amount of 88% of the value of the handsets affected by the ban (to be paid by Samsung to cover the costs of enforcing the ruling during the Presidential review period), 32.5% of the value of media players involved and 37.6% of the value of tablets found to infringe on Apple's patents.


Under the rules of these procedures, Judge Pender must come up with a target date for the review hearing within 30 days. If the full commission agrees with the results of the review hearing, the decision becomes final after 50 days.

source: Electronista