Samsung scores patent win over Apple in surprise ITC ruling

iPhone 4 imports to be banned in US after ITC rules that it infringes Samsung patents

Apple has been hit by a surprise ruling by the US International Trade Commission (ITC), which has judged the iPhone 4 and the iPad 2 3G to infringe Samsung patents and ordered a suspension of imports and sales in the US.

In the ruling, Apple was found to infringe a Samsung-held patent for transmitting data over a 3G network. Apple had claimed that Samsung was obliged to license the patent on "fair and reasonable" (FRAND) terms because it formed part of the industry standard for 3G telecommunications. The ITC, though, found that Apple was demanding unreasonably low terms from Samsung.

The ruling at the ITC is Apple's first significant setback in the US in its intellectual property battle against rival Samsung.

President Obama has 60 days to approve or invalidate the order by the US government agency, but has indicated that he opposes an import ban. On Tuesday, the administration issued a recommendation to Congress that it limit the ability of the ITC to impose import bans on the basis of the intellectual property infringement.

However, Brinks Hofer patent lawyer Lyle Vander Schaaf told Bloomberg: "Historically, the president does not interfere in these sorts of things... It shows the commission is a very bold agency that they are willing to take these steps despite the popularity of the Apple products."

Any ban of the three-year-old iPhone 4, the oldest product in Apple's smartphone range, will have a limited impact, given its age and the likelihood that it will be phased out this summer with the launch of the new iPhone 5s and a rumoured lower-cost iPhone.

"We believe the ITC's final determination has confirmed Apple's history of free-riding on Samsung's technological innovations," said Adam Yates, a Samsung spokesman. "Our decades of research and development in mobile technologies will continue, and we will continue to offer innovative products to consumers in the United States."

Apple and Samsung dominate the global smartphone market, accounting for half of the phones sold and 95 per cent or more of the profits.