“Apple Inc. may face a difficult task invalidating two HTC Corp. patents for data transmission in wireless devices, a U.S. trade judge said at a trial that could lead to import bans on the newest iPad and next version of the iPhone,” Susan Decker reports for Bloomberg. “‘Clear and convincing means something to me,’ U.S. International Trade Commission Judge Thomas Pender said yesterday in Washington, referring to the legal standard in determining that a patent shouldn’t have been issued. ‘I have to be pretty darn certain a U.S. patent is invalid.'”
“HTC accuses Apple of infringing two patents it owns for ways to reliably transmit a larger amount of data. Taoyuan, Taiwan-based HTC said the patented methods are critical to the 4G technology known as LTE, or long-term evolution, that allow faster downloads,” Decker reports. “A victory could let HTC seek an import ban of the latest iPad and even the newest iPhone, if it uses LTE when it’s unveiled as early as next week. That could give the Taiwanese handset maker leverage to force a settlement with Apple, which has made its own patent-infringement claims against HTC.”
Decker reports, “HTC acquired the patents at issue in April 2011, around the same time it began selling its first LTE phone, the Thunderbolt. The patents are part of a portfolio HTC bought for $75 million from ADC Telecommunications Inc. ‘I don’t care if they bought these patents to sue you or not,’ Pender told Apple lawyer Michael McKeon. ‘They are a property right.’ …Pender said yesterday he probably won’t side with Apple’s argument that HTC didn’t have proper ownership rights of the two former ADC patents.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We highly doubt that iPhones and iPads will be banned in the U.S. as a result of this case.
