U.S. DoJ: Limit Sales Bans For The Good of Consumers
Patent Office also urges limiting sales bans to U.S. government.
The Justice Department and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has urged the U.S. government to limit sales injunctions against products found to infringe on patents for the good of consumers.
"In an era where competition and consumer welfare thrive on interconnected, interoperable network platforms, the DOJ and USPTO urge the USITC to consider whether a patent holder has acknowledged voluntarily through a commitment to license its patents on F/RAND terms that money damages, rather than injunctive or exclusionary relief, is the appropriate remedy for infringement," the statement said.
"The USITC, may conclude, after applying its public interest factors, that exclusion orders (sales injunctions) are inappropriate."
The departments' joint policy statement follows the Federal Trade Commission ruling that Google must stop blocking the use of standard essential patents by competitors. The FTC stressed last year that bans on imports could cause "substantial harm" to consumers, competition and innovation.
The U.S. International Trade Commission, a federal agency that has the power to enforce bans on products shipping to the U.S., is currently considering a Samsung request to ban imports of Apple products.
The Justice Department and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office urged the ITC to consider if an import ban for products found to infringe on industry standard patents was in the public interest.
They said the ITC's approach "will be important to the continued vitality of the voluntary consensus standards-setting process and thus to competitive conditions and consumers in the United States."
During 2011, the smartphone industry alone spent $20 billion on patents to help protect products. For the first time in their history, spending by both Apple and Google on patents exceeded their spending on research and development of new products.
For the record as well, to me the whole "patent wars" is the silliest thing I've ever heard of.
I thought it was Apple that was trying to go to appeals to try and ban the Samsung Nexus?
For the record as well, to me the whole "patent wars" is the silliest thing I've ever heard of.
If there's anything "this country stands for" it's freedom, including freedom of speech. Freedom means defending even to death the rights of others to do and say things that you don't like or agree with. It seems you would prefer to live in a country where people are not free. Perhaps you should consider leaving. I'm sure you'll find plenty of places to live where no one is allowed to criticize their government.
Although I agree with you the timing does seem somewhat suspicious. Remember all government agencies are pretty much slow to react and always a step behind. Patent wars at this point have been carried out to absurd levels and its well past time to reign it in.
From what i recall the Samsung patents are also real patents that Apple needs to even make Phones / Pads while Samsung only need to make small adjustments mainly to the design of the product to get the ban lifted, if so then Samsung have a way stronger case when it comes to ban the competing product and if its not its foul play and nothing else and it would only serve to prove that justice is fully purchasable in the US...
In the meantime... "Apple paid just $713 million in taxes on its foreign earnings of $36.8 billion for the fiscal year" the rest seems to go to the judges!
How stupid is that? Maybe they wouldn't need to be so protective of patents if they put the money into making better products than the competition. All this legal BS hurts the consumer.
over seas competition lost my vote when they started illegally dumping in order to knock out american companies, i have no sympathy for those stealing back stabbing crooks.
theft maybe legal in their part of the world, but in america i'd like to see the thieves thrown in PRISON.
Just because another company labels a patent as FRAND doesn't mean it has to just give it away. Apple uses the court system to not pay for patents they are licensing. The DOJ needs to sue apple for wasting taxpayers money to fight their battles. The court system isn't supposed to be for business negotiation, but Apple can't stop suing people.
Kinda funny how its ok to ban samsung, but when its apples turn, gotta put a limit on it. Why? simple, the US government is using iphones. Can't ban a product thats being purchased by the government itself.
http://news.yahoo.com/us-government-agency-ditches-blackberry-favor-iphone-034151788.html
That is the scariest thing I've heard is a month.
Sorry, I fat-fingered my phone.
That's exactly what the politicians have to understand, patents are not helping innovation but stifling innovation. If more money (resources) has to be put into defending/prosecuting/buying up patents instead of R&D, then where is the innovation going to come from? The bar for anyone trying to develop software or tech is getting to be ridiculously high if one has to also have lawyers and a patent pool in their portfolio.