An administrative law judge from the US International Trade Commission (ITC) has issued a preliminary ruling that Samsung violated one design patent, one hardware patent and two multi-touch software patents owned by Apple.
Apple’s filing claimed that Samsung infringed on six of its patents in total, but ITC judge Thomas Pender found no violation of the remaining two.
This ruling will be reviewed by the commission before a final ruling is handed down, which could take about four months.
If the ITC rules in Apple’s favour, it can block imports of infringing Samsung products into the US. However, according to Foss Patents, Samsung has already presented the ITC with probable workarounds that avoid infringement. If these adaptations are approved and implemented, the devices can continue to be imported.
