That great deal at AT&T—a free iPhone 4 with a two-year contract—could be a thing of the past in 60 days, after a U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) ruling on Tuesday found Apple was guilty of a patent violation, using Samsung wireless technology in its iPhone (4 and 3GS) and iPad 2 3G.
The ITC issued a cease-and-desist order and a limited import ban for Apple’s AT&T offending models, a decision that overturns an ITC judge’s initial ruling that Apple’s product did not infringe on Samsung’s patents.
Kristen Huguet, spokeswoman for Apple, told AllThingsD, “We are disappointed that the Commission has overturned an earlier ruling and we plan to appeal.”
Only the White House or the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals can overturn the ruling. They have 60 days to so, before the ban takes place.
“We believe the ITC’s Final Determination has confirmed Apple’s history of free-riding on Samsung’s technological innovations,” Samsung told AllThingsD.
Though the iPhone 4 accounted for 8 percent of Apple’s revenue in the first quarter of 2013, the product is at the end of its life cycle and so may not effect Apple’s bottom line, according to analyst Piper Jaffray.
Anton Troianovski and Thomas Gryta of the Wall Street Journal point out, “If Apple keeps to its schedule of rolling out a new version of the iPhone every year, the ban could ultimately be moot.”
