An Apple For The President?

Obama Favours Apple over Samsung

President Barack Obama has announced that every time Samsung wins a lawsuit against Apple he will veto the decision. However, it is unclear what will happen when Apple beats Samsung.
Victory by Samsung would have protected it from the iPhone 4 and some iPads entering the United States from China if they used technology which stole Samsung’s ideas. Local media revealed that it’s the first time since 1987 that a US President has interfered with an ITC order. In response, the White House claimed that it was an important element of the Administration’s policy of promoting innovation and economic progress.

The veto means that Apple will be allowed to keep importing and selling the above mentioned gadgets in the United States, but the White House pointed out that the veto will in no way address the legal merit of Samsung’s claims. Obama’s decision to disapprove that determination won’t mean that the patent owner in this case isn’t entitled to a remedy. On the contrary, the South Korean giant may continue to pursue its rights through the courts. The President administration is eager to see itself as trying to shut down the use of import bans as a weapon for patent trolls. Obama has indicated that the White House will prevent the ITC from awarding product bans in the future in lawsuits involving essential patents. However, it is unclear whether this will apply to non-US companies.

Of course, the South Korea is furious with the news, because the White House has just taken away its bargaining chip to stop Apple doing the same trick to it. Samsung’s spokesperson admitted that the ITC’s decision recognized that the company has been negotiating in good faith and that Apple remains unwilling to take a license.

In response, Apple really rubbed it in, claiming that it invented everything and all competitors should be exterminated. In the worst case of hypocrisy that the industry has ever seen from Apple, its spokesperson claimed that thanks to the Obama administration standing up for innovation in this landmark case, Samsung was efficiently ruled wrong to abuse the patent system in that way.

In the meantime, Apple recognizes itself as a company which has never abused the patent system by trolling its rivals off the shelf… Bla-bla-bla.