Obama vetoes Apple product ban
American president Barack Obama has moved to veto a product ban on Apple products ordered by the US International Trade Commission, the first time a US administration has overturned such a ban since 1987.
It marks the first overt intervention by the White House in an increasingly bitter trade war between Apple and Samsung which is being played out in courts worldwide, most recently in June when the ITC banned the import or sale of the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 3G and iPad 2 3G distributed by AT&T Inc.
This was ordered on the grounds that Apple infringed a patent owned by its South Korean rival but US trade representative moved to scotch this, citing its: “effect on competitive conditions in the US economy and the effect on US consumers.
Samsung, which will still be able to pursue its case through the courts, said it was ‘disappointed’ by the decision whilst Apple was, unsurprisingly, supportive, saying that the decision showed that the US administration was ‘standing up for innovation’.