In the ongoing patent battle between Samsung and Apple there have been charges pressed against each other from both sides. Samsung filed a patent infringement charge against Apple claiming that almost all of Apple device using the Infenion baseband chipset are violating Samsung network patents and requested the ITC to ban all Apple devices. The ITC initially ruled against Samsung but later revoked the case and suggested a further study on the case. The latest development on the case is that the case has been further delayed till end of May which might essentially be a sad news for Samsung for now.
The review process by ITC is to evaluate the effects on consumer choices for banning Apple products in the US, they are essentially trying to evaluate how the offerings from companies like HTC, Samsung and other scaled up to and their potential to replace Apple products if they are banned. Another point of view is to research more on Samsung abusing the FRAND clause by charging 2.4% royalty to issue license for using their concerned patented technology to Apple which is much higher than what it charges other competitors.
But one major advantage for Apple is that most of the devices using the Infenion chipset have been phased out as Apple has moved on to a new breed of chipsets in their newer range of devices. Even the much rumoured low cost iPhone is supposed to use a chipset from Qualcomm that would not be covered under Samsung’s patents.