Apple patent victory over HTC smartphone
Apple wins patent lawsuit against HTC smartphone, in a victory that has huge implications for smartphone and tablet technology.
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that Taiwan’s HTC Corp infringed on one of the four patents that Apple had disputed, and imposed a sales ban on some of the HTC phones.
It is a narrow victory for Apple, as the ban doesn’t come into effect until April, meaning that HTC will be able to develop technology outside of the restrictions.
However the case is expected set the precedent for a bigger fight between Google Inc’s Android operating system and Apple’s iOS, and will allow Apple to pursue other makers it believes infringe on its technology.
With this ITC ruling, I think other phone companies are all scratching their heads now as to how to resolve the same technology they are using. Melvin Li, Hong Kong-based patent agent
The patent ‘647, that is now legally protected, related to technology that allows users to click on phone numbers and other types of data in a document, such as an email, to either dial directly or click on the data to bring up more information.
And because this is now widely used in almost all smartphones, industry experts foresee similar rulings in the future if Apple pursues legal action.
“With this ITC ruling, I think other phone companies are all scratching their heads now as to how to resolve the same technology they are using,” Melvin Li, a Hong Kong-based patent agent and counsel consultant at a US law firm told Rueters news agency.
Mr Li said he expected to see courts across the world, in jurisdictions such as Canada, Australia and Europe to follow this ruling in similar court cases on patents.
Read more: Apple touch-screen patent war comes to the UK
There has already been numerous patent litigations about smartphone and tablet technology: HTC has countersued Apple and is also fighting a patent case in Germany while Microsoft Corp and Motorola Mobility also have lawsuits against each other.
Apple’s battle with Samsung Electronics, which also uses Android software, has amassed some 30 legal cases in 10 countries.
Apple’s founder, the late Steve Jobs, said in his biography that he was going to “destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.”