How Will Apple's Lawsuit Impact HTC?

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/technology/04htc.html?hpw' target='_blank'>http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/t.../04htc.html?hpw</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Apple's patent lawsuit against HTC will not cause major problems for the Taiwan technology company in the short term, analysts said Wednesday. But it could strain its relations with partners in the crucial U.S. market and test its leadership, adding to its challenges in the increasingly competitive smartphone field."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/wpt/auto/1267637784.usr1.jpg" style="border: 0;" /></p><p>The article points out that, short term, there's not likely to be any impact on HTC as these types of lawsuits tend to take three to four years to come to bear. It will, however, be a distraction for HTC and a drain on their resources. Engadget <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/03/google-responds-to-apples-htc-lawsuit-we-stand-behind-our-and/" target="_blank">asks if Google will come to the aid of HTC</a> since Andriod is part of what Apple is targeting. I still find the whole thing pretty ridiculous; Apple is doing quite well in the smartphone space and I fail to see why they think this will improve their position there.</p>

[doogald]

Steve Wildstrom also has a good article on this today (http://swildstrom.wordpress.com/2010/03/03/apple-v-htc-dont-expect-fireworks/).

Anyone expecting legal fireworks to come from the patent infringement case that Apple has filed against HTC is going to be disappointed, at least for the foreseeable future. Unless HTC falls over itself to settle the case, it will be months or years before anything happens....

Patent cases in the federal courts are notorious for taking forever to resolve. It generally takes a couple of years just to get a case to trial, and it’s not unusual for a patent dispute to bounce back and forth between trial courts and appeals courts for years. The drawn-out patent battle between Research In Motion and NTP involved only one appeal and still lasted for six years before RIM finally settled,

Probably the most important factor in determining how this case will play out is whether HTC holds patents that it can claim Apple has infringed. It could then file counter-complaints (and yes, the ITC could prohibit the importation of Chinese-made iPhones even though Apple is a U.S. company). That would open the door to a cross-licensing agreement, probably the most common ending to a patent dispute where both parties actually produce product and own intellectual property. But even that is unlikely to occur before there have been some hearings before a judge or the ITC that allow the parties to assess the relative strength of their cases.

In the end, it is unlikely that anyone is going to prevent anyone else from importing phones or even forcing significant changes in products. One way or another, the case will eventually be settled. The real significance of the litigation is that what is increasingly turning into a smartphone war of Apple versus everyone else is getting much, much nastier.

[soho_1]

http://blog.asymco.com/2010/03/03/suiting-up/

This is not about money.
This will not be settled out of court.
This is not about HTC
This is about the future of mobile computing as much as the Windows copyright suit against Microsoft was about the future of immobile computing.

[Inventor]

What bothers me is the amount of time it will take to come to a resolve. (2 years??)

If this was the 1800's this 2 year time period would be ok, since no Fax, Internet etc. but today things should move faster, way faster. Prior art yes or no?? Should have been awarded?
Obvious?

We *need* patents to get investment. Strict policing of them to keep it.

Go Steve go!!!

Inventor

[Pdaholic]

What bothers me is the amount of time it will take to come to a resolve. (2 years??)


No matter how much technology we have, legal proceedings always take time. It takes months for lawyers to gather information from depositions and redepositions. If it makes it to trial, that takes even more time. The legal system is a slow and painful process.

[jpaq1]

I say bollocks to Apple! I hope HTC counter claims against Apple. HTC has been involved in the smartphone/pda business for a lot longer than Apple. I am sure they can find something against Apple.

[paulswift36]

It shows how scared Apple must be but its mental. Look at what these patents are, like any change in behaviour because the phone has been rotated, swiping on the screen to make it do something. These are such generic features that they should never have been accepted for patent. Its like saying anything with a keyboard in front of a screen or a control that changes channels remotely on a TV, i.e., not something you should be able to prevent the rest of the world doing. Apple is scared of the competition now that HTC and Google and delivering the goods. Maybe focus on some of the severaly lacking factilities of its own products before tackling others and maybe it they wouldn't need to play using dirty tactic.

[AlCapone]

Apple = the rotten apple, greed and censorship, pushing malware(itunes) and now acting as a patent troll too.
Apple/s.jobs makes me sick.

Wonder when they will have a patent on any use of fingers ?
- software-patetns are BS - should be removed from the justice system, they only delay inventions.

[wekebu]

The Iphone is in decline, it's how many years old? Apple hasn't come up with anything new on that phone since it's been release. Yes, they added copy/paste, video, bluetooth, etc. but those were already on EVERY other phone. Apple can't come up with another golden egg and it's killing Jobs. He's too afraid to take on Google, so he's hitting HTC.

I'm canceling my itunes account and going back to Beyond Pod for downloading directly onto my phone.