The US International Trade Commission has banned a number of Samsung mobile devices from being imported to the USA. It’s upheld a decision about two patents: one involved touch-screen technology and listed Apple founder Steve Jobs as one of the inventors, the other related to the way an audio socket detected the type of equipment that had been connected. Four other claims were rejected by the US ITC.
The ruling specifically involves older Samsung products from 2010 and 2011.
There’s now a 60-day period in which the US President’s office can overturn the commission’s decision although this is unlikely to happen.
In a blog post, intellectual property analyst Florian Mueller said “The commercial impact of the import ban completely depends on the quality of Samsung's designarounds. Companies that have to respect an injunction (such as an import ban) always claim that their workarounds don't have a major (if any) negative impact on their products. Sometimes it's true; sometimes it's not.”
[More details: BBC News; guardian.co.uk; ITC ruling (pdf)]