In a move not seen for more than twenty years, the White House has overturned a ban that Samsung had won through the courts, on the import or sale of earlier iPhone and iPads that were deemed to have infringed Samsung patents.

The lifiting of this restriction is a major success for Apple, locked in a battle with Samsung over this and other patent wars in courts around the globe.

However the US body within the Obama administration, the International Trade Commission, has agreed that Samsung can continue with it's case through the courts, so this particular battle is not necessarily lost and an appeal will undoubtedly follow.