Apple Vs Google (well almost)
By Cerberus86 1 Comments
Well in case you hadn't heard recently Apple filled a law suit with the district court in Delaware and with the US International Trade Commission against the Taiwanese company HTC claiming that they have infringed over 20 of the iPhone creators patents. In the law suit Apple has named 5 phones using Android and 7 using Windows Mobile that they claim are stealing Apples inventions including the flag ship Nexus One from Google.
Steve Jobs, Apples chief executive issued a statement saying "We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We've decided to do something about it."
Apple claim that the technology used in the iPhone interface, underlying hardware and architecture as well as power management features and gestures are in fact Apple inventions. "We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours"
if the Suit was successful it would block HTC products with the apparent infringements from being sold in the USA
Apple sadly have a history of aggression towards other companies using lawsuits, although in the world of business this is nothing new. Currently Apple have a pending lawsuit with Nokia over infringement of patents, Nokias response was to Sue Apple back, it can sometimes be a vicious circle, upon the announcement of the HTC suit their stock dropped slightly.
HTC responded yesterday "HTC disagrees with Apple's actions and will fully defend itself. HTC strongly advocates intellectual property protection and will continue to respect other innovators and their technologies as we have always done," said HTC Chief Executive Officer Peter Chou in a statement, "but we will continue to embrace competition through our own innovation as a healthy way for consumers to get the best mobile experience possible."
You get the feeling that Apple is taking on Google in a round about way, HTC is the better target as their are not as well equipped to tackle Apple but the ultimate goal is to strike a blow at the creator of the self confessed "super phone" HTC have a healthy patents catalogue themselves, in fact HTC has been developing and selling their own touch screen laptops, pda and mobile phones since 1999. In the long run though is trying to take down HTC really the best option for Apple, HTC are not going to stop churning out phones 3 new sets were announced shortly after the Suit was first issued. Ultimately if HTC are forced to go out of business by Apple is Google not well placed to buy the remains of the company and produce their own phone??
It also helps to have friends in high places, Microsoft announced that it is willing to help any targets of Apples law suits over mobile phone infringements. HTC is currently has about 7 windows mobile phones in its range with more on the horizons including the new Windows 7 system and saying as Microsoft has as many if not more patents than Apple it may be a costly battle that Apple may end up losing in the end.
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