US ITC to review Apple patent complaint against Samsung

The US International Trade Commission will review a potentially key decision in the patent fight between Samsung Electronics and Apple over smartphones and tablets.

The Commission also sent part of the dispute back to the judge who ruled in October that Samsung, the world's top maker of smartphones, infringed four Apple patents but did not violate two others. The full commission said it would review the judge's decision, and asked the agency judge to take a second look at portions of two patents where he had found that Samsung infringed. One of the patents in question allows the use of a headset with the smartphone while the other allows the device to show an image on a screen with a second, translucent image over it. The case at the International Trade Commission is No. 337-796.