ITC's ban of certain Samsung devices boosts Apple market cap
Propelled by a favorable ITC ruling last Friday, shares of Apple shot up by US$12.91 on Monday, finishing the trading day at $467.36. Indeed, shares of Apple on Monday closed at their second highest level since February of 2013.
Though the success of the iPhone is routinely measured against Android as a whole, the reality is that Samsung's fleet of Android phones remain Apple's biggest competition. To that end, investors reacted favorably to an ITC ruling this past Friday which handed down an import ban against certain Samsung smartphones found to infringe upon Apple patents.
Last Monday, news of the veto announced over the previous weekend sent Apple's stock up $6.91 or 1.49 percent, enough to raise Apple's market capitalization by just over $6.9 billion, a figure as large as Apple's most recently reported quarterly net income.
Yesterday, Apple's market cap shot up by $11.7 billion.
As for the Samsung import ban, it will go into effect in 60 days, barring a rare presidential veto.
Apple, you may recall, was recently the recipient of a presidential veto with respect to an import ban that would have affected older-generation iPhones and iPads. The odds that Samsung will be as lucky appear to be extremely slim given the types of patents involved in the case. Remember that Samsung has routinely wielded standard essential patents against Apple whereas Apple has asserted patents that they are under no obligation to license to Samsung.
