Look, Apple, we know you’ve cornered the phone market, but it’s a just a little rude suing all and any competition to the iPhone. Apple is hereby putting out a lawsuit on HTC for apparantly breaking some very specific patents Apple created on specific features of the iPhone.. such as their Patent No. 7,479,949: “Touch Screen Device, Method, And Graphical User Interface For Determining Commands By Applying Heuristics”
So basically Jobs and his well-funded legal team have brought out patents on seemingly generic or common features of the iPhone to ensure that nobody else can create a touch screen phone of the same calibre… basically giving them complete control of that market via draconian legal procedures.
Here is a list of just 10 of the 20 patents supposedly broken by HTC;
- Patent No. 7,362,331: “Time-Based, Non-Constant Translation Of User Interface Objects Between States”
- Patent No. 7,479,949: “Touch Screen Device, Method, And Graphical User Interface For Determining Commands By Applying Heuristics”
- Patent No. 7,657,849: “Unlocking A Device By Performing Gestures On An Unlock Image”
- Patent No. 7,469,381: “List Scrolling And Document Translation, Scaling, And Rotation On A Touch-Screen Display”
- Patent No. 5,920,726: “System And Method For Managing Power Conditions Within A Digital Camera Device.”
- Patent No. 7,633,076: “Automated Response To And Sensing Of User Activity In Portable Devices”
- Patent No. 5,848,105: “GMSK Signal Processors For Improved Communications Capacity And Quality”
- Patent No. 7,383,453: “Conserving Power By Reducing Voltage Supplied To An Instruction-Processing Portion Of A Processor”
- Patent No. 5,455,599: “Object-Oriented Graphic System”
- Patent No. 6,424,354: “Object-Oriented Event Notification System With Listener Registration Of Both Interests And Methods”
Please note, most of these features could be found on a DSi. Interesting…
This kind of tactic is very unfair on other device makers, effectively limiting them from making competing products in the same niche… isn’t that some kind of trading standards breach? How were these patents allowed to go through anyway, as some of the features are so generic and common to many phones? And why is Apple targeting only the phones HTC has created that use the Android OS? Only one of these is obvious.
Jobs and Apple are seemingly on yet another power trip designed solely to remove all competition, i.e. Android and Google, via legal means. Like the industry hasn’t seen this tactic before. However, Android crafters Google have not yet been mentioned in the suit, but this debaucle may have been influenced by their decision to enable Apples “patented” multi-touch feature on the Android versions of Nexus Ones.
This is not the first time Apple’s legal team have been used to thwart competitors gaining an inch in the tablet handset market, see the ‘Apple Sues Nokia’ episode from a few months back.
However, Google has commented on the issue, saying in an E-mail to TechCrunch.com
“We are not a party to this lawsuit. However, we stand behind our Android operating system and the partners who have helped us to develop it,”
The fact that all the handsets in question are Android based gives Google some pretty good means to back HTC, as they stand to lose out if the legal proceedings ban imports of HTC phones.
If Apple think they can get away with suing each and everyone who creates a touchscreen Web phone and it wants other cell phone makers to pay for copying the iPhone or to stop altogether. With Motorola, Palm and Research in Motion doing pretty much the same thing, who will be next? Google had better give them some Android if they hope to stand a chance.
Hopefully this ridiculous lawsuit will not go through, and for once Apple will have some competition, despite Jobs whining about the fact the company enjoys competition, and then accusing everyone else of stealing from them. Hmm… maybe the man’s back on the wacky baccy again, as his paranoia is increasing with every non-Apple handset released.
Popularity: 39% [?]
Tags: Apple, copywrite, HTC, infringement, iPhone, ipod, sues
If a company spends their time and money developing a product, they have every right to obtain patents to protect their investment. Sounds like someone is upset because their mobile carrier doesn’t offer the iphone.
Thanks for your comment, Liddy. Just to clear up a few things, this article is about how corporations are using legal process to block competition, i.e., how letting the law into business can be bad for the market. Oh, and another thing; my carrier is O2, who do offer the iPhone, which I sadly cannot afford on a blogger’s salary XD