ITC Rules Samsung Infringed Apple Patents In The US

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) has ruled that Samsung infringed a number of Apple patents in its preliminary decision.

In the latest leg of the two companies’ worldwide legal battle, Judge Thomas Pender said that Samsung was guilty of infringing four Apple patents, but not two others.

Apple filed the complaint in mid-2011 and there had originally been seven patents involved, but one has been removed during the legal proceedings. The full ITC will meet in February to decide whether to uphold or reject Pender’s decision.

Samsung infringing more Apple patents?

Samsung was found to have infringed the four patents in its Captivate, Transform and Fascinate smartphones as well as its Galaxy Tab.  One of the Apple patents helped the touchscreen interpret whether the user wants to scroll up, down or change applications while another allows a device to show an image on a screen with a second translucent image on top of it.

Apple has asked both a court in California and the ITC to permanently ban Samsung products that infringe its patents, but the ITC did not rule on the issue.

The news will be a blow to Samsung which received a minor boost yesterday when a court ruled that its range of Samsung Galaxy smartphones and tablets do not infringe Apple’s multi-touch patents. Apple had argued that the Samsung devices infringe the patent, which covers technology allowing users to use two fingers on the screen at the same time to perform the ‘pinch to zoom’ function.

Apple will also have to run adverts in several major UK publications and on its website stating that Samsung didn’t copy the design of its mobile devices after it lost its appeal at the High Court. The original ruling had stated that the iPad and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 could not possibly be confused with each other as the Samsung device wasn’t “cool” enough.

However Samsung lost arguably the biggest lawsuit of them all last month when it was found guilty of infringing on Apple’s software and design patents, and ordered to pay £664 million in damages.

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