ITC: Apple Did Not Infringe HTC Technology

By Diane Bartz

(Reuters) - Apple Inc did not infringe patented technology owned by Android phonemaker HTC Corp, the U.S. International Trade Commission said on Friday, the latest ruling in the wide-ranging smartphone patent wars.

The complaint - one of several the two companies have filed against each other - is a proxy for the larger fight for market share between Apple's products and Google Inc's Android software for cellphones and tablets, many of which HTC makes.

Taiwan-based HTC had filed a complaint in 2010 accusing Apple of infringing five patents on technologies for power management and phone dialing.

It asked the ITC to bar some versions of Apple's iPods, iPhones and iPads from being imported into the United States.

The ITC, a U.S. trade panel that investigates patent infringement involving imported goods, is a popular venue for patent lawsuits because it can bar the importation of infringing products and because its cases are ruled on quickly.

Apple and HTC have escalated their patent fights as Android phones have gained popularity.

Worldwide, Android-based smartphones have outpaced iPhones in terms of growth, rising from a tiny portion of the global market in 2009 to 50.9 percent share in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to Gartner Inc data.

The case is at the International Trade Commission, No. 337-721.

(Reporting By Diane Bartz; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Comments

[IDIOTA]

05:01 PM on 02/19/2012

Even the great Apple eschews taking a bite out of slave labor, and that is on my mind much these days as I wonder which of my purchases from any vendor are untainted by slave labor.

[TashaDK]

06:53 PM on 02/19/2012

If you are buying Tech items, they are all tainted by Slave Labor at some time during the manufacturing process. It may be a single part or the whole device, but most of what goes into a tech device is manufactured in a place that has workers working in near Slavery conditions. It may look more like Sharecropping or the Company Towns of our past, but it's still slavery.

[Scott Addison]

11:21 AM on 02/19/2012

Apple is the new 800 pound gorilla in the room and is now practicing the same rules MS practiced in the 90's of crushing anything that competes with them.

[briantopping]

11:29 AM on 02/19/2012

Let me rewrite that a little for you: "Apple is the new 800 pound gorilla in the room and is now pursuing companies for playing by the same rules MS practiced in the 90's, crushing anything that steals from them."

[Scott Addison]

11:41 AM on 02/19/2012

No you do not need to rewrite anything for me. It appears the IP system in this country since being privatized has gone to crap and companies like MS and Apple think they should and can patent every little idea. I really wonder har far other industries such as TV manufactures, the car industry, airplane manufacturers, and tire manufactures would have gotten if the patent rules we use today would have applied to them in the past.

[theveggiedude]

01:12 PM on 02/19/2012

Wrong analogy. Microsoft bullied their *partners* with the threat of taking away Windows or at least upping the price where an OEM could not properly compete. They did this to gain an advantage over competitors.

Apple does not licence its Mac OS X or iOS to any other vendor. It is a closed system, just like Xbox or the Playstation are closed systems, and anyone who enters know they play by those rules.

[Scott Addison]

03:12 PM on 02/19/2012

Microsoft actually purchases patents now and have for a while just to claim and sue with. Yes I know the history of MS and how they intimidated small startups in the 90's how they would lock companies in lawsuits etc. etc. They were the 800 lb. gorilla doing what ever they could to control and make the pc industry the way they wanted. Now Apple is doing this in the mobile market. The fact that Apple is a closed system has nothing to do with it. In fact the OS they are using is built off of NextStep which they purchased based off of BSD and Mach Kernel all based off of open source code I believe.

[StinkyPete0279]

05:44 PM on 02/19/2012

Closed system? Well that certainly negates competition via litigation and patent trolling!

[Tony Chandler]

10:12 AM on 02/19/2012

With 100 billion dollars in the bank. Apple can afford to build a robot army to build the I stuff and free the poor down trodden masses who work at Foxcon of their own free will.

[idealist2]

08:40 AM on 02/19/2012

Buy an Apple and you are supporting slave labor. Apple's lack of ethics in amounting it's huge profits by destroying lives of thousands of people is pathetic. I respect Apple's engineering ability, but I can't respect the way Apple builds it's products. How many workers in China feeling death is a better choice than life building Apple products is an iPhone or iPad worth ??

[briantopping]

08:55 AM on 02/19/2012

The initial report from the FLA does not agree with your assertions. Maybe you need to update last week's position with this week's news. Reuters is reasonably balanced, try http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/15/us-china-apple-idUSTRE81E1FQ20120215.

But this is an article about HTC, a company that is not an FLA member *and* still uses Foxconn. Sounds like if I buy an HTC product I am more likely to support "slave labor". I think I'll boycott HTC first...

[Brian Hudson]

09:09 AM on 02/19/2012

Sigh ...

http://venturebeat.com/2012/01/12/dozens-of-foxconns-xbox-360-production-line-workers-threaten-suicide/

Buy ANY electronic product made in China and you're supporting the same.

[Max Load]

07:40 AM on 02/19/2012

Lame headline.

[JohnnyAce Okeke]

03:11 AM on 02/19/2012

Apple paid off the judges. {{-_-}}

[WhereIsTheTruth]

08:22 AM on 02/19/2012

Evidence?

[briantopping]

09:57 AM on 02/19/2012

crickets....

[JohnnyAce Okeke]

12:45 PM on 02/20/2012

Absence of evidence =/= Evidence of absence. {{-_-}}

[Justtheobvious]

10:36 PM on 02/18/2012

He with the most money, buys the most judges...

[GonzoFactor]

01:17 AM on 02/19/2012

He with the best case sometimes wins, but cynicism is a loser's game.

[briantopping]

09:41 PM on 02/18/2012

Most of computing these days is about providing an experience, the functions can be done on virtually any platform. There are some rules of the road that apply uniformly, it is called "intellectual property law":

1) Copyrights are for making sure authored works are not stolen verbatim, patents are for making sure processes are not stolen. Just as I would not let someone use my car without consent, I can similarly refuse to let someone use one of my patents or copyrights.

2) FRAND principles require that if I license intellectual property to a variety of licensees that I must charge them fairly and equally. If I use my car as a taxi or rent it out, I must charge in a equal and non-discriminatory manner.

3) One cannot believe that these elements of law are okay for some intellectual property owners but not others, just as it would not be fair for your car to be okay for anyone to borrow but not mine.

4) Just because one company sues people for using their intellectual property without consent does not mean that they should somehow be barred from ever entering into deals for using other's intellectual property. In other words, just because I do not loan my car to anyone that asks does not mean that I should be barred from ever driving someone else's car on general principle.

Regardless of one's personal tech interest, these are the laws. The rest is a lot of theatre.

[ProudToBeVeryLiberal]

01:54 AM on 02/19/2012

What you don't seem to know is that Apple is also losing some of these stvpid lawsuits:

http://www.ijailbreak.com/news/sales-stopped-in-german-online-store/

Let me guess, when Apple sues others it's legit, when others sue Apple it's frivolous, right?

[jsgaetano]

03:20 AM on 02/19/2012

It seems any strategy to win in the courts rather than the market isn't going to work. Apple is trying, and failing, so it's not all that surprising a self-defense suit is going to fail as well.

[briantopping]

08:43 AM on 02/19/2012

1) Note that I said nothing about Apple. These comments apply equally to all, and all parties have a right to their grievances. 2) The third point I previously made leads me to believe you just simply did not read my comment or maybe you just don't like that it is correct. 3) I don't care who wins or loses these cases, companies should try to protect their property within the law, the outcomes just feed the theatre. 4) I've never seen you write anything constructive with regard to any computer company, just bashing other's views or whether they built their computer by themselves with a 3970X. Is it possible you could actually add some value to these conversations moving forward?

[ThatsTheTheWayItIs]

07:32 PM on 02/18/2012

Apple won nothing. This was a nuisance suit to keep Apple away from Linux and Open Source. Apple sues you, you sue Apple.

Apple lost when it won. This result weakened IP in future suits, and that's all Apple has.

[theveggiedude]

01:16 PM on 02/19/2012

Windows ship with zero open source. Mac's ship with tons of open source. It's obvious who loves open source.

[NC4Obama]

04:31 PM on 02/19/2012

lawlz, yea Apple is a big friend to open source and third parties, and i got a bridge i want to talk to you about.

[valar84]

07:58 PM on 02/19/2012

Apple copied tons of code from the open source community. The only reason they release some open source programs is that they are forced to by the licenses the Open Source community puts on their code. So if you want to use their code, you have to release any result as open source too. That's the only reason they do some open source stuff, they're legally forced to.

Microsoft does all their work by themselves, they don't have to do open source because they don't copy or build on open source code. Nonetheless, making stuff for Microsoft programs is relatively easy, the code may not be open source, but the ecosystem is pretty open. Apple's is not.

[jsrl317]

07:27 PM on 02/18/2012

Go Apple! I love you guys and gals @ Infinite Loop 1 (IL1) and all the other Eng parks you guys have. Keep making great products and you can have my dollars for another 20+ years.

Go APPLE!

[Justtheobvious]

10:36 PM on 02/18/2012

You mean china...

[jsrl317]

10:46 PM on 02/18/2012

No I meant Apple. IT all comes from Cupertino. It's manufactured elsewhere. That doesn't make it less Apple anymore than your Chrusler is less American becasue it is built in Canada and Mexico (where most of our cars are built).

[Pectin]

12:33 AM on 02/19/2012

No he doesn't.

[NerdyStudent]

07:22 PM on 02/18/2012

Meh.

[Pectin]

09:44 PM on 02/18/2012

You don't say.

[ForReallyReal]

06:03 PM on 02/18/2012

Isn't it great that $100 of the $500 retail price for an HTC phone can go towards legal fees for frivolous patent claims brought by companies who did not invent the technology in question but strategically purchased patents in order to suppress competition?

[nhfarmer]

06:54 PM on 02/18/2012

Patent assignment to corporations should be banned because it is unconstitutional. The Constitution, Bill of Rights, Article 1 grants a human being the rights to his or her discoveries. Period.

[behindEnemyLines]

08:11 PM on 02/18/2012

and selling the discovery is also part of the humans right.

[GonzoFactor]

01:31 AM on 02/19/2012

There is no Bill of Rights, Article 1. The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments to the Constitution, and none of them mention rights to discoveries. Period.

Article I of the Constitution includes this section: 8.8 To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

Saying that this means humans only and not corporations flies in the face of centuries of legal practice and is purely a product of your imagination.

[ProudToBeVeryLiberal]

07:01 PM on 02/18/2012

And you honestly believe Apple isn't guilty of that too?

[ForReallyReal]

07:08 AM on 02/19/2012

Of course not. Apple has been doing the exact same thing to Motorola, Samsung, and HTC. I only singled out HTC here because I happen to carry one of their phones.

[Rick Eriksen]

05:08 PM on 02/18/2012

iPad...I guess that is the reason people buy iPad or iPods and why they love Apple...Apple uses the letter i in their product...and that is what most people that are into and buy Apple products love the most...i....

[DavidEvan]

06:44 PM on 02/18/2012

As the owner of muliple gadgets both Android and Apple this makes little sense. There are good aspects of both and areas needing improvement. The primary value for me in Apple is hardware, both in IOS devices and on MacPro. Some aspects of IOS or Apple OS need more thought, but not nearly as much as Android with zero battery life or Microsoft with its latest iterations of constant reboot-ware.

[ProudToBeVeryLiberal]

06:59 PM on 02/18/2012

"The primary value for me in Apple is hardware, both in IOS devices and on MacPro."

Plenty of mobile devices have better hardware than Apple products. As for the MacPro, it's quite obsolete right now and Apple is seriously considering dropping the entire line, because it's not profitable (as Win 7 has proven to be an exceptionally stable platform, plenty of high-end users are dropping Apple for computers that offer more computing power for less money.) Meanwhile, I just built a new PC with a 3960X processor. Something unavailable on any Apple product. So much for "better hardware"...

[jflorish]

01:50 AM on 02/19/2012

Best tech products I have ever bought .... by far.

[ProudToBeVeryLiberal]

07:37 PM on 02/18/2012

So, what can you tell me about all your fanboy buddies_hating on MS and MS users on the Windows 8 article?

Double standard?

[ur2nutty4me]

04:21 PM on 02/18/2012

The whole patent process has become rediculous and I believe patent fights are decided politacally rather then technically. It's become a scam from electronics, video/audio and most damaging of all drugs........ Everyone suffers except the 1 percent.

[jordan2]

05:36 PM on 02/18/2012

Not sure what you mean by the "1 percent" but how do people suffer?

[ur2nutty4me]

06:02 PM on 02/18/2012

I hope your not implying that you think the price of pharmaceuticals is fare in this country and don't recognize that millions are going without...............Nor do I hope your implying you don't mind the scam they have going with the generic suppliers. And who do you think benefits by these actions surely not the 99%..

[NeoConsAreFinished]

07:56 PM on 02/18/2012

What the hell is a strict constitutionalist? LOL
And if you do not understand what is going in patent and copywrite law then you you are behind the 8 ball.
You see the laws are being designed to make sure the little inventor etc is not who will reap the rewards.
So much for your Ayn L Rand delusion.

[nhfarmer]

06:59 PM on 02/18/2012

Patents are in fact necessary because greedy stealing humans will not survive as a species without some protection. That said, humans will not survive as a species with the current system. The first thing that should be done is to ban patent assignments, and provide rights only to the inventor(s) and human heirs as the Constitution originally granted.

[SuperBenFranklin]

04:12 PM on 02/18/2012

HTC has never invented anything.

[ProudToBeVeryLiberal]

05:03 PM on 02/18/2012

The same goes for Apple.

[Mauryan]

05:36 PM on 02/18/2012

Apple managed to put together existing technologies and created great products. The others had access to the same technology. However, they lacked the creativity to come up with their own ideas like Apple did. All they did was copy Apple and create products that sported the same features that Apple made popular. Companies like Samsung, HTC etc have the strength in mass production. But none of them can create a microprocessor design or new hardware device. They copy what others create, mass produce, glut the market and destroy companies that try to be unique and creative. In the long run, support for such companies is self destructive. Before Apple made the iPhone there was none of these companies that even made anything close to that. The same went for iPad. They shamelessly copied everything Apple put together and tried to even mock at Apple. I am not an Apple fanboi. But I try to be fair .

[nhfarmer]

07:06 PM on 02/18/2012

No corporation has even invented anything. Humans invented everything - often on their own time. Draconian patent assignment agreements prevent humans from owning their discoveries, a right the Constitution granted to them, not to corporations. A human entering a corporation to feed his or her family throws away virtually all rights.