“In my first, quick reaction to yesterday’s United States Senate hearing on “Standard Essential Patent [SEP] Disputes and Antitrust Law”, I mentioned that profound concern was expressed at a high level while few references were made to the specific situation concerning the ITC import ban of older iPhones and iPads over a Samsung declared-essential patent, which will take effect in a very few days (August 5) unless it is vetoed by the Obama Administration,” Florian Müller writes for FOSS Patents.
“But I also wrote that ‘given the concern of certain senators about the problem of SEP abuse, it’s certainly possible that lawmakers have talked to the White House about the Samsung-Apple case,'” Müller writes. “”
Müller writes, “I guessed right. After the hearing a press release was distributed that included, as an attachment, a letter that four United States Senators wrote to United States Trade Representative Michael Froman yesterday. The signatories are: Senator Amy Klobuchar (D.-Minn.); Senator Mike Lee (R.-Utah); Senator Barbara Boxer (D.-Calif.); [and] Senator Jim Risch (R.-Idaho).
13-07-30 Senators to USTR Letter Samsung-Apple
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Müller writes, “There’s a fundamental problem here that needs to be solved. And it would also be regrettable if Apple had to suffer under an outlier ruling by a government agency with quasi-judicial authority.”
Read more in the full article here.