Apple Inc. (AAPL) Infringed on Samsung Patent ITC Rules

apple inc samsung patent lawsuit

apple inc samsung patent lawsuit

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung have been fighting the legal battle of patents in the courts in many countries. AAPL won a significant lawsuit against Samsung last year where the court awarded $1 Billion to Apple after finding that Samsung products infringed Apple’s patents.

On Wednesday the U.S International Trace Commission reached a decision {PDF} on Samsung Patent No, 7,706,384 described as “Apparatus and method for encoding/decoding transport format combination indicator in CDMA mobile communication system” and ruled that Apple had infringed on Samsung’s patent.

As a result of this ruling the ITC has issued a “cease and desist” order that would prevent Apple from selling the products that infringe the patent. The devices that would be affected are AT&T iPhone 4, 3GS, iPad 3G and iPad 2 3G.

Under the modified constructions, the Commission has determined that Samsung has proven that the accused iPhone 4 (AT&T models); iPhone 3GS (AT&T models); iPhone 3 (AT&T models); iPad 3G (AT&T models); and iPad 2 3G (AT&T models) infringe the asserted claims of the ’348 patent.

The Commission has further determined that the properly construed claims have not been proven by Apple to be invalid and that Samsung has proven that a domestic industry exists in the United States with respect to the ‘348 patent.

Apple would most definitely appeal this decision. The ban won’t come into effect immediately as this is a preliminary final ruling. Apple will take this matter up to the Federal Circuit Courts to review this decision.

The legal battles between tech companies in recent years is being viewed as a means to prevent competitors from grabbing a large market share by securing bans in the court. However, Apple’s view on its legal battle is to prevent Samsung from “blatantly copying” its products.

{via MacRumors}

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