No presidential veto on Samsung import ban

Samsung wanted President Barack Obama to veto an import ban on devices that infringed on two Apple patents, saying he did the same thing for the U.S. company when it infringed on theirs.

In August, a presidential veto thwarted an import ban Samsung won against the iPhone 4S. But the Korean electronics company did not get its veto, and the import ban will proceed for some older Samsung devices.

“It’s frustrating for Samsung -- they won a big victory against Apple or so they thought,” said Jim Altman, who represents Asian companies at the U.S. International Trade Commission, which issued the import ban. “The president gets rid of it. And then Apple wins a victory and the president says ‘tough cookies’?”

Although the company admitted the ban would only apply to a few older models, they argued the veto for Apple would imply unfair "protectionism" unless they overturned Samsung's ban as well.

In an August 28 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, designated by Obama to review the case, that “the administration has a significant interest in avoiding the perception of favoritism and protectionism toward U.S. companies.”

But the infringed patents in each case were different. Samsung's infringed patents involved data transmission standards while Apple's infringed patents were for multitouch technology and headphone-jack detection, features they say differentiate them to consumers.

Samsung is Apple's biggest competitor, and also one of the California company's biggest component suppliers.

Samsung sold 32 percent of all smartphones worldwide in the second quarter, compared with 13 percent for Apple. Samsung also reported record third-quarter profit based on sales of its smartphones, led by the flagship Galaxy S4.