Samsung Loses $1 Billion Market Value After Obama Administration Vetoes Apple iPhone, iPad Sales Ban

Samsung (NASDAQ:SSNLF) has seen its market value drop by $1 billion since the Obama administration overturned an ITC ruling that was set to ban the import of various Apple devices such as the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, 3G iPad and 3G iPad 2 models powered by AT&T.

The initial ruling, put forth by the International Trade Commission in June, determined that the aforementioned Apple devices infringed on a certain standards-essential (FRAND) patent: Samsung's Patent No, 7,706,384 is titled “Apparatus and method for encoding/decoding transport format combination indicator in CDMA mobile communication system.”

Samsung sought to have the Apple devices banned in the U.S., which was supposed to be enforced starting Monday. But the presidential order states that upholding such a ban could grant patent holders “undue leverage,” which has the potential to disrupt competition, hurting consumers and the U.S. economy.

According to the Wall Street Journal, this action is the first time since 1987 that an administration has vetoed an import ban ruled on by the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Had the ruling not been vetoed and the ban enacted, it would have affected the import of various iPad 2 and iPhone 4 models, as the other devices have since been discontinued. The ban probably would have affected sales of Samsung products as well, including the company's Galaxy S smartphones and Galaxy Note tablets, which have been gradually gaining momentum despite Apple's dominance in the market.

"We applaud the administration for standing up for innovation in this landmark case," an Apple spokeswoman said in a statement. "Samsung was wrong to abuse the patent system in this way."

Samsung shares ended 0.9% lower at 1,274,000 South Korean won ($1,133) on Monday. Following the veto, the South Korean manufacturer has decided to drop similar patent infringement cases against Apple in Europe.

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