“After explaining how crucial patent protection is to innovation and progress, Smith gave a nod of support for Apple’s patent suit against HTC, the Taiwanese company that makes most of the Google-powered smartphones,” Dudley reports. “Apple is going after HTC for alleged patent infringement, but the suit is widely seen as an attack by the iPhone maker on Google’s surging phone business.”
“Smith suggested taking a broader and more sympathetic view of Apple’s case, saying ‘the fact that there’s litigation in this area is not necessarily a bad thing,'” Dudley reports. “Smith welcomed Apple’s lawsuit as the opening salvo in a bigger effort to sort out who owns the technology used in smartphones and start collecting a standard set of royalties. License holders have been talking about this behind the scenes for some time, and Apple brought it out in the open, he said.”
Dudley reports, “Will Microsoft go further and get directly involved in Apple’s suit against HTC? Smith wouldn’t say when I asked after his speech. ‘I think it’s premature to endorse or offer any other reaction to it,’ he said. ‘But as I mentioned, the fact that there are efforts to sort out these issues are on balance a positive development for the market because they typically take an important role in sorting this kind of issue out.'”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lynn W” for the heads up.]
You’re all jumping to the conclusion that Microsoft is in the Apple camp because it backs the lawsuit.
MS is happy that Apple is suing because whether Apple comes out on top or not, MS wins. It will better know which fork in the road to take — at Apple’s expense.
That’s why Smith said, “‘I think it’s premature to endorse or offer any other reaction to it.” Settlement one way or the other is in MS’s interest. Nothing more.
@hagar57
“He’s a lawyer, and lawyers get fat on lawsuits. Of course, he’s all in favor of litigation.”
Not necessarily so. General Counsel to a large corporation is often an on staff salaried position. So an additional lawsuit (in that case) is more work but does not result in more money.