"The ITC's role in patent law is an accident of history"

An editorial in the Wall Street Journal on December 5 titled The Android Patent War includes the text: "The ITC's role in patent law is an accident of history."

Also within the story: The commission must by law consider the public interest and it could reject Apple's complaint on that basis. If the ITC proceeds with an exclusion order, President Obama has 60 days to overrule it, but such intervention is rare. Reagan was the last to do so.

One notes: ITC determinations are subject to review by the Federal Circuit under the standards of the Administrative Procedure Act, which allows for de novo review of legal determinations and review of factual findings for substantial evidence