Thread: Apple deals massive patent blow to HTC, Android in serious trouble

harryb is going to be in tears,

his world has just collapsed

2 bogus patents, the U.S is full of them.

hopefully they will be challenged in court like that ridiculous patent from BT who claimed they invented the web

I've read both of them, amazing what you can get a patent for in the U.S but I'm not surprised, have seen it so many times before.
Its like someone being granted a patent for how to breath air.

fuk off apple what a load of shit. Can't make a better system so resort to the courtroom. Can't someone sue them for making a hand held device? Does this apply for the whole world or just the sad arse anal sue happy USA?

Originally Posted by Butterfly

that ridiculous patent from BT who claimed they invented the web

Totally ridiculous.
We all know that Al Gore invented it.

Has anyone patented the English language yet?

Serious trouble = pay off.

The real winners in all these lawsuits are, as usual, the lawyers.

Originally Posted by Thetyim

We all know that Al Gore invented it.

indeed, but at least he didn't patent it

Originally Posted by larvidchr

^



Maybe we need to rename this Thread - https://teakdoor.com/computer-news/76...s-android.html (All Things Android) to the - The in's and out's of the Apple copy for the skint - Android

If that's all it was, Apple would only be copying its features, not trying to put it out of business.

A little reminder of just how many of these there are to go <sigh>

https://teakdoor.com/computer-news/93373-whos-suing-who-in-mobile-world.html

Claims that US market is past "non-viable tipping point"

The growth of US software patent disputes has forced some application developers to turn away from publishing their wares on the US version of Android Market and Apple App Store.
A Guardian report revealed British developer Simon Maddox had removed all his applications from the US App Stores for iOS and Android smartphones to avoid being sued by 'patent troll' Lodsys, which has already issued proceedings against a number of application developers.
Some developers view the US software patent scenario is spiraling out of control. On Friday Indian software firm Kooltol announced that it had notified a raft of firms including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Apple and Amazon that their products may infringe upon software patents the firm has been granted.
iOS developer Shaun Austin cited the report, adding that "Selling software in the US has already reached the non-viable tipping point."
Maddox told the Guardian that it was now "far too dangerous to do business" in the North American market because of the risk of software patent lawsuits.

Taiwanese mobile phone company HTC has said it will appeal against a US ruling that it infringed two Apple patents.
If Friday's ruling by the US International Trade Commission is not overturned, the US may ban imports of some HTC phones.
HTC and Apple are rivals in the smartphone market and analysts said the ruling may have industry-wide implications.
Shares in HTC fell as much as 7% on Monday following the news.
Tough battle? The US trade commission said that HTC was guilty of violating two Apple patents when it produced mobile phones based on the Android operating system.
Apple had filed a complaint against HTC for infringing ten of their patents.
However, the findings are preliminary and are subject to review by the full six-member committee in Washington. A final decision is due on 6 December.
HTC said that it was confident it had a strong case for appeal, and maintains that it has not violated any of the patents mentioned in the case.
This is the latest move in a longer running battle between Apple and HTC.
Last year, HTC filed a complaint with the trade commission claiming that Apple was infringing its patents.
The Taiwanese company is not the only firm wrestling with Apple over the rights to technology, with the US firm also in disputes with South Korea's Samsung and US-based Motorola.
Buy back The announcement by the US International Trade Commission came late on Friday, and in an effort to boost its share price HTC said over the weekend that it would buy back some of its listed equity.
HTC plans to snap up as much as 2.4% of the listed shares, about 20 million shares, at between 900 Taiwanese dollars and 1,100 Taiwanese dollars per share.
Half of the repurchased shares will be transferred to the firm's employees and the remaining half cancelled.
In early afternoon trading on Monday, HTC shares were trading at close to T$871.

It would seem there are a few more decisions coming...

Apple has filed another complaint against HTC with the U.S. International Trade Commission, alleging patent infringement by the Taiwanese smartphone and tablet maker.

A notice on ITC's website said that Apple had filed a complaint against HTC under Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which includes allegations of "patent infringement and trademark infringement by imported goods."

An ITC spokesman said the complaint was filed by Apple on Friday, but has not yet been posted to the website because the documents were being reviewed.
Related Coverage

HTC, which is based in Taiwan, is denying all of Apple's past and present claims and will continue to protect and defend its own intellectual property. "HTC is dismayed that Apple has resorted to competition in the courts rather than the market place," said Grace Lei, general counsel of HTC, in a statement sent through its public relations firm, Waggener Edstrom.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

Apple and HTC have been fighting a patent battle since last year. Apple has filed multiple lawsuits against HTC, including a suit in March last year for allegedly infringing on 20 patents. HTC in May last year filed a complaint against Apple with the ITC for infringing on five patents, and asked to halt the importation and sale of the iPhone, iPad and iPod into the U.S.

Apple has also exchanged suits with top phone maker Samsung, which makes Android phones and devices.

HTC is also bulking up its intellectual property portfolio through acquisitions. HTC last week said it would acquire graphics chip maker S3 Graphics from Via Technologies for US$300 million. HTC in the process will get S3 Graphics' portfolio of 235 patents and pending applications, including many related to graphics. On July 1, the ITC judge ruled that Apple infringed on some of the claims contained in two S3 Graphics patents, including U.S. Patent No. 6,658,146, directed to systems and methods for compressing images, and U.S. Patent No. 6,683,978, directed to image data formats.

Overall, global mobile-phone sales totaled 427.8 million units in the first quarter of 2011, an increase of 19 percent compared to the first quarter of 2010, according to research firm Gartner. Nokia and Samsung were the top smartphone vendors while Apple was in fourth place, with sales of 16.9 million units, and HTC was in seventh place, selling 9.8 million units.

If this interpretation is correct, then Apple can basically go after Nokia, M$ and (I think) Blackberry:

An in-depth analysis by Mueller of the specific patent claims HTC has been found guilty of violating suggests that the infringing technologies are part of the Android architecture, rather than unique enhancements made by HTC. As such, competing Android vendors such as Motorola and Samsung may also be at risk.

Apple's '643 patent appears to relate directly to the iPhone's practice of detecting contact information, such as phone numbers and email addresses, and forming a link that, when clicked, performs contextualized actions. Documents submitted by Apple accuse HTC of violating this patent through Android's "Linkify" functionality.

According to Android's own developer reference site, which is cited in the documents, Linkify takes "a piece of text and a regular expression and turns all of the regex matches in the text into clickable links."

Given that, according to Mueller, the feature is "most probably built into each and every Android device out there," a final ITC ruling upholding Friday's ruling would pose a serious threat to all U.S. Android vendors.

It's certainly built into every Microsoft mobile device, as well as Nokia IIRC. I'm not a Bilgeberry user, but if you open an email with a URL in it, does it become a clickable link?

ridiculous,

This will not affect me one bit. I will use my Android today and I will use it tomorrow. This involves corporations stroking each other off to the tune of cash money. Thats it.

Bear in mind Microsoft make more money from a $5-a-handset "patent tax" on HTC phones than they do out of Windows Mobile.

And they are negotiating to charge Samsung $15 a handset.

All of this is down to patents, in many cases which have been purchased rather than registered.

As you can see, they're all suing each other left, right and centre, and all of these legal costs and any awards will ultimately be paid for by the consumer.

HTC pays Microsoft $5 for each Android phone it sells - Microsoft

Microsoft wants $ 15 for each Android handset from Samsung | Android Planet

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

All of this is down to patents, in many cases which have been purchased rather than registered.

Not to speak of technology which Apple has stolen and registered patents for..
These 2 patents are from 1994/95, a time when Apple wasn't into mobile phone manufacturing and are so general that they cover almost any data processing in a graphical user interface.
Apple is known for startin these kind of patent wars when being ran over by the competition. Just don't buy their products..

Apple is garbage. It is the easy way for the tech retard.

Reckon Apple will peel em much em spit out the core
Jobs done

Why the fuk isn't apple getting sued for making a hand held device?? I don't get it. They copy a hardware concept then sue others for copying a software concept for the copied hardware concept. The world is more fuked up than I thought.