The White House recently declined to overturn a ban on certain older Samsung imports.

Is President Obama siding with Apple?

October 10, 2013 6:21 pm Published by Leave your thoughts

President Obama is known for being a Blackberry fan, but recent events suggest that he has since picked up an iPhone.

As regular readers of this blog know, back in August the Obama Administration decided to veto a ban on certain Apple products imposed by the International Trade Commission. At the time, Samsung had been accusing Apple of infringing on a cellular data patent in several models. The ban would have prevented the import of the iPhone 4 and some iPads.

This week, the White House was faced with the opposite scenario when the International Trade Commission banned some older Samsung products. However, according to a report in Bloomberg Businessweek, that ban will be upheld.

Though there is a risk that the South Korean company will accuse the U.S. government of favoring a domestic company, the Businessweek article suggests that there are some important differences between the two cases. The White House argues that Apple never violated Samsung's patents, since the technology in question was considered to be "related to the basic functions of a device." On the other hand, the technology that was considered last week is not.

This is still an interesting move from the White House, which has otherwise signaled a crackdown against patent trolls who abuse intellectual property laws. It suggests that the president will still defer to the International Trade Commission at times.

Businesses, especially those in the tech industry, should follow these developments closely as they work with a Phoenix business attorney on their own intellectual property cases.

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