There was undoubtedly a lot of high-fiving happening in Cupertino when Apple won its case against Samsung, got awarded a billion-dollar payout, and set about getting Samsung’s devices banned. But Apple could now get a taste of its own medicine from another, smaller rival in the form of HTC.
Apple is attempting to get two of HTC’s patents relating to data transmission invalidated. If it doesn’t, the company could face import bans being applied to both the new iPad and soon to be announced iPhone 5.
HTC’s patents cover transmitting large amounts of data over LTE. The new iPad takes advantage of LTE already to allow for faster downloads speeds, and the iPhone 5 is likely to do the same. HTC acquired the two patents as part of a larger portfolio from ADC Telecommunications back in April last year for $75 million, and readily admits the acquisition was carried out as a way of protecting the company from “aggressive tactics” by competitors.
It now looks as though the patent buys were a very clever move by HTC as a US trade judge has stated it’s going to be tough to invalidate such patents.
If Apple loses the case then a ban on the iPad and iPhone becomes a very real threat, but would likely never actually come into force. Apple has previously taken action against HTC accusing the company of copying its smartphone and tablet designs. With both companies suing each other some deal would be struck to cease all action, effectively allowing HTC to continue to offer its devices unchanged and bypass the problems and payout Samsung is currently facing.
The ongoing patent spats happening between tech companies highlights how aggressive competition is, but also how broken the patent system is. Apple is using patents to protect its dominant position in the market while HTC uses them to ensure it can continue to sell products that compete with Apple. There seems to be no end in sight for such action being taken, and ultimately it will be consumers who suffer either by having devices removed from sale or through less choice.
This isn’t the only threat against the iPhone 5 actually making it to market this month. Last week a Chinese company managed to patent the design of GooPhone i5, which looks incredibly similar to the leaked images of the iPhone 5. If the iPhone 5 does indeed look like the leaked shots, Apple will most likely be facing a new lawsuit in China accusing them of design infringement.
Read more at Bloomberg
Source : geek[dot]com
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