Samsung loses first round of U.S. trade case brought by Apple

PanARMENIAN.Net - Samsung Electronics Co. lost the first round of a U.S. trade case brought by Apple Inc., its second big defeat this year in America as the companies battle worldwide over smartphone and tablet computer technology, according to Bloomberg.

Samsung infringes four patents, including one for the front face of the iPhone and one for touch-screen technology co-invented by Steve Jobs, U.S. International Trade Commission Judge Thomas Pender said in a notice. The judge’s findings are subject to review by the full commission, which has the power to halt products at the U.S. border and is scheduled to finish its investigation by Feb 25.

The case is one of more than three dozen between the makers of about half of the world’s smartphones. Samsung, which lost a $1 billion jury verdict in August against Apple, is challenging a different ITC judge’s findings that its own patents weren’t infringed by Apple. The Korean company has had more success in other countries, including a victory yesterday in The Hague.

“People see what’s happening in the other countries, but here in the U.S., every time they go up against Apple, they lose,” said Will Stofega, a program manager at Framingham, Massachusetts-based researcher IDC. “Samsung will continue to fight. In the long run, this cult of Apple may not be a good thing to have.”