A U.S. trade agency has once again delayed its decision on the high-profile patent war between Apple and Samsung, this time based on considerations of how much consumers and the U.S. economy would be hurt should it ban imports of Apple’s iPhones and iPads over a patent held by Samsung Electronics.

The U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington was scheduled to issue a final decision in Samsung’s patent infringement case yesterday. Instead, it asked for comments on how a ban would affect the market for smartphones and tablet computers. The question pertains to one of four patents that Samsung asserted against Apple, for a way that phones transmit data. The agency said it would make its decision May 31.

This marks the fourth time that the ITC delayed the decision-making process since stating that it would revisit the case “in its entirety” last November.

In September of last year, Judge James Gildea of the ITC had ruled that Apple did not violate any of the four Samsung patents in question. The claim was raised by the Suwon-based IT behemoth in June 2011.

“I believe this indicates that the decision may turn somewhat in favor of the Korean firm since it is unlikely for the U.S. trade agency to defer the process so many times,” said an industry insider.

Two of Samsung’s patents in dispute cover transmission technology, the third detects phone numbers from an email or Web page, and the last is a patent technology that moves the document display page with the user’s finger.

Apple’s nine devices in dispute are: the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod Touch, iPad, iPad 3G, iPad 2 and iPad 2 3G.

Local patent experts have said that the ITC’s decision to give the case a second look was “unprecedented” and that it was a positive sign for Samsung.

The ITC in Washington has the authority to ban imports of patent-infringing products into the U.S., which is one of the world’s top consumer markets.

Decisions reached by the ITC are often considered to be more reasonable because the ITC administrative law judges must provide a more detailed technical justification for their ruling compared to a jury. Its final determination also undergoes a presidential review.

Samsung, however, is not the only one raising its case at the ITC. Apple is also waiting for a preliminary decision from the trade agency on April 1 involving an intellectual property infringement case it filed against Samsung in July 2011.

With the initial ruling on the blocking of Samsung products to be released within a month, the final ruling is set to be released on Aug. 1.

ITC Judge Thomas Pender said on Oct. 24 of last year that Samsung had violated four Apple patents, including one for the design of the iPhone.

Samsung is the world’s largest maker of handsets and is a major supplier of components for the iPhone. Apple dominates in the U.S., with 45 percent of the smartphones sold in the fourth quarter compared to Samsung’s 27 percent, according to Neil Shah, an analyst with Boston-based Strategy Analytics.

By Cho Ji-hyun and news reports 
(sharon@heraldcorp.com)