Samsung is continuing its patent war against Apple, even after US President Barack Obama stepped in over the weekend to prevent a US sales ban on a number of older versions of Apple products, which had been the result of an International Trade Commission (ITC) ruling in June that declared Apple had infringed on a Samsung patent.
During the case, Samsung had accused Apple of infringing four patents in all, but only that one claim got upheld by ITC. Samsung has revealed to TNW that an appeal is in progress for the three other patents which the ITC ruled that Apple did not infringe. If the appeal goes through successfully, it raises a possibility that some Apple products may face a ban once more.
Samsung’s latest move comes as Reuters reports that the South Korean government today expressed concerns about the US decision to overturn a ban on the Apple models — which would have included the iPhone 3GS, Phone 4 as well as all versions of the iPad 2 and original iPad.
A statement from South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy says: “We express concerns about the negative impact that such a decision would have on the protection of patent rights.”
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The ministry also reportedly urged the US to make “fair and reasonable decisions” in ITC’s final ruling on Apple’s patent infringement complaint against Samsung, which has been delayed to August 9. If the ITC finds that some of Samsung’s phones and tablets infringed on Apple’s patents, they might be banned from import into the US.
Samsung and Apple’s bitter struggle over patents has led to court cases in several markets. Notably, last year Apple scored a $1.05 billion victory in a massive trial against rival Samsung, where the jury voted that nearly every one of Samsung’s devices infringed on Apple patents aside from its tablets – with Apple scoring marks on almost all of its utility and design claims.
Image Credit: Chung Sung-Jun via Getty Images
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