President Obama Vetoes Samsung ban on Apple, Inc. iPhones, iPads

President Obama’s administration has vetoed a decision by the United States International Trade Commission to ban the import and sale of a number of Apple products, including models of the iPhone 4 and iPad 2.

The ITC announced the ban in June after finding that those devices had violated a patent held by Samsung.

In a letter to the ITC (embedded below), US Trade Representative Michael Froman writes that he has decided to “disapprove” the ban “based on my review of the various policy considerations discussed above as they relate to the effect on competitive conditions in the U.S. economy and the effect on U.S. consumers.” However, he also said Samsung “may continue to pursue its rights through the courts.”

After the ITC decision, Verizon’s vice president of public policy and general counsel Randal Milch published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal arguing that even though this specific ban would not affect Verizon (it mostly targeted Apple devices on AT&T’s network), “patent litigation at the ITC — where the only remedy is to keep products from the American public — is too high-stakes a game for patent disputes.” He also noted that this would be the first presidential veto of a decision by the ITC since 1987.

Letter to USTR