Apple’s White House pals

Samsung did not have a good Monday, and Tuesday doesn’t look like it’s going to be so hot, either. The South Korean tech giant had won a sales ban against older Apple products. It’s part of a larger battle involving patents for wireless communications over 3G networks. But, it seems Apple has friends in high places. President Obama overturned that International Trade Commission ban this past weekend. Samsung’s stock took a dive in response. Leaders at the company and in the South Korean government are not happy about it. Here’s the thing though — the president’s move may actually be about getting Samsung and Apple to speed things up in settling the larger patent war, or so says our friend Molly Wood of CNET.