ITC to Review ALJ Ruling on Apple/Samsung Patent Fight

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) said in a notice Jan. 23 that it would review “in its entirety” a ruling by one of its administrative law judges that Samsung had violated Section 337 by importing and selling devices that infringe Apple patents, in the latest chapter in the ongoing legal dispute between the two companies over mobile device patents. The ITC case is separate from Apple's successful patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung in the U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif.; Judge Lucy Koh is still conducting post-verdict hearings in that case. Judge Thomas Pender ruled in October that Samsung had violated one of Apple’s iPhone design patents and three of its software patents. The judge recommended a limited exclusion order barring entry of Samsung's infringing mobile devices, as well as a cease and desist order against Samsung. Apple and Samsung had both asked the ITC to review the ruling, while Google had submitted a public interest statement in the case, the commission said, not mentioning what Google said. The ITC had originally planned to make its final initial determination on the case March 27, but said it will set a new date within 30 days of the notice’s posting.