Judge says HTC phones don’t violate Apple patents
In one of its many legal battles that the company has found itself in, Apple is beginning to realize that you simply can’t win them all. I’m pretty sure the iOS maker has had lawsuits with every larger manufacturer in the business including HTC, LG, Samsung, and Motorola. Even as big an Apple fan boy that I am, I get tired of the court room news, so it’s interesting to see the tech giant lose a fight.
According to a report from Bloomberg, a UK judge has favored HTC over Apple by ruling that HTC phones don’t infringe Apple patents when it comes to “Slide to unlock”. The lawsuit started after “Steve Jobs inc.” felt that certain HTC phones were infringing on patents set forth by the company by using similar slide to unlock methods. Bloomberg had more on the story:
“HTC’s devices don’t infringe four Apple patents for the technology and three of those patents are invalid, Judge Christopher Floyd said today. In addition to the slide-to-unlock feature, today’s ruling covered Apple’s patents on tools used to scroll through photographs and change alphabets, and software allowing users to touch the screen in two spots simultaneously. While the court ruled that Apple’s photo-management patent is valid, Floyd found that HTC didn’t infringe it.“
It’s no surprise to anyone that I love Apple, but to see the vendetta that Steve Jobs had against not only Android, but anyone he felt was stealing from him, is just another huge testament to how ruthless he could be. I think competition helps create better products and pushes companies to outshine the other, giving the consumer the choice of a wider range of products and better prices. To see Apple sue certain companies is understandable, but every electronics manufacturing company on the planet…now that’s a little far.
Pretty sure I know the answer, but what do you guys think about this? Happy that HTC got one over on Apple? Tired of all the lawsuits? Comment down below and spread your opinion
Via: Bloomberg
I'm glad finally a judge is using common sense. I also read that Bloomberg report as well as the one with the BBC which also stated that the slide to unlock feature had been created by a Swedish company in 2004 and that Apple and HTC's format were obvious development from the Swedish design and that had the Swedish product not existed then they would have been infringing on Apple.
Apple replied to the judges order by saying "Competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours." Pot calling the kettle black i think!
Anyway the slide to unlock feature HTC was using was a top to bottom (to unlock) or bottom to top (cancel call) and wasn't a left to right feature like on iOS.
Apple has to learn that just because they were able to get a patent for something it doesn't mean that they were the ones to come up with it in the first place.
They have completely turned me against their products.
I hope they cop themselves on or they will start losing more than just a few users.
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