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August 01, 2013

Senators, Verizon Concerned Over iPhone Import Ban

By Rory Lidstone, TMCnet Contributing Writer

It's been so long since Apple (News - Alert) and Samsung's ongoing, worldwide legal battle made headlines that it's easy to forget it isn't over. Most may remember that the case was largely settled in the U.S. last year when the U.S. District Court agreed with Apple that Samsung (News - Alert) had infringed on a number of Apple's patents.



Obviously, that wasn't the end of it and, as is often the case in legal battles, the victor isn't so clear. Indeed, Samsung's request for an import ban on older iPhones and iPads found to infringe on one of the company's standards-essential patents was granted by the International Trade Commission (ITC) back in June. The order affects only AT&T (News - Alert) iPhones prior to the 4S and the iPad 2 and earlier.


Image via Shutterstock

The ban, which is expected to go into effect as of August 5, may not seem like a big deal considering it mostly involves older devices, but it has caused a bit of an uproar as the deadline for the White House to overturn the decision, Friday, August 2, approaches.

Verizon (News - Alert) Communications recently called for President Obama's intervention in the case, claiming the ruling as it stands hurts consumers. Meanwhile, a group of bipartisan senators has sent a letter to United States Trade Representative Michael Froman, according to AllThingsD, stating that this case could be used to set a precedent for standards-essential patents.

"Any precedent that would enable or encourage companies to include their patented technology in a standard, commit to license included patents on FRAND terms, and then seek or threaten to seek to secure an exclusion order against a willing licensee despite a breach of that commitment would thus implicate significant policy concerns," reads the letter. "Such an outcome could undermine broad participation in the standards-setting process and in turn threaten the meaningful benefits these standards provide for competition and consumers."

Obviously, many parties are concerned over the outcome of the ITC ban, but we'll have to wait until Friday to see what the Obama Administration decides.




Edited by Alisen Downey
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