The South Korean government on Monday expressed concerns about the decision by the United States to overrule a sales ban of some Apple Inc models.<\/p>\n
The Obama administration vetoed a U.S. trade panel’s ban on the import and sale of some older iPhones and iPads, reversing a ruling that had favored South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co Ltd over Apple in their long-running patent battle. The move was vehemently criticized by the South Korean media as “protectionism.”<\/p>\n
“We express concerns about the negative impact that such a decision would have on the protection of patent rights,” the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The ministry called on the U.S. trade body and the Obama administration to make “fair and reasonable decisions” as Samsung faces a decision on Friday as to whether some of its phones and tablets infringed on Apple’s patents and should be banned from imports into the United States.<\/p>\n
Apple and Samsung, the world’s top two smartphones makers, have been waging a global patent war since 2011, filing multiple lawsuits against each other over the design, interface and technology of their devices.<\/p>\n
The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) in June banned the import and sale of the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 3G and iPad 2 3G distributed by AT&T Inc , saying the devices infringed on one patent owned by the South Korean electronics giant.<\/p>\n
Samsung had also accused Apple of infringing on three other patents, but the ITC found that Apple did not infringe those. A Samsung spokesman said on Monday the electronics giant in July appealed the ITC decision on the three patents.<\/p>\n
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