South Korean Government Objects To Obama ITC Reversal

Referring to the President’s decision to veto the U.S. International Trade Commission’s ban on older models of the iPhone, the South Korean government said it had “concerns about the negative impact that such a decision would have on the protection of patent rights.” It was the first time the ITC veto was used since President Reagan. Samsung’s attempt to leverage a license for a non-essential patent from Apple in return for a standards-essential patent (SEP) license appears to have been a key issue.