Apple's small bite out of Samsung over smartphones Apple dominates the US market for smartphones. APPLE has scored a victory in the smartphone war, convincing an influential trade panel to ban the sale of Samsung devices in the US it said infringed two patents. But experts were yesterday saying it was only a minor win in the ongoing stoush to carve up the $US293.9 billion global market. On Friday the US International Trade Commission said some Samsung devices infringed two Apple patents for multitouch features and headphone jack detection. But it added that newer Samsung devices worked around those patents. Some critics played down the victory saying it was unclear which older devices would be affected. "It is a worldwide fight, and I don't think any one company can declare international victory," New York-based Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler patent lawyer Jeff Lewis said. We've seen a lot of split decisions. South Korea-based Samsung is the world's biggest manufacturer of smartphones, while Apple dominates the US market. Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said the decision protected innovation. "The (commission) has joined courts around the world in Japan, Korea, Germany, Netherlands and California by standing up for innovation and rejecting Samsung's blatant copying of Apple's products," Ms Huguet said. While disappointed with the order, Samsung applauded being cleared of infringing Apple's broader phone design patents. "Apple has been stopped from trying to use its overbroad design patents to achieve a monopoly on rectangles and rounded corners," Samsung spokesman Adam Yates said. with Bloomberg