“In his first public comment on the suit, HTC chief Peter Chou said the company ‘disagrees with Apple’s actions,’ though he did not go into specifics,” The Associated Press reports.
“Apple says HTC’s phones — several of which use Google Inc.’s Android mobile operating software — infringe on 20 of its patents,” AP reports. “The patents cover technology like iPhone two-finger screen recognition, which allows users to perform multiple functions on the gadget.”
AP reports, “The suit, filed earlier this month, served as a warning to rivals that Apple Inc. is ready to aggressively defend its technology amid intensifying competition in the smart phone market.”
Full article here.
Brad Stone reports for The New York Times, “In an interview, Jason Mackenzie, vice president of HTC America, said that ‘HTC disagrees strongly with Apple’s actions and we plan to use all the legal tools we have at our disposal to defend ourselves, as well as to set the record straight.'”
“Mr. Mackenzie would not say whether HTC plans to countersue Apple, or how much legal help it can expect from its partner, Google, which may be the real target of Apple’s ire,” Stone reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: HTC’s press release, verbatim:
HTC Corporation today outlined its disagreement with Apple’s legal actions and reiterated its commitment to creating a portfolio of innovative smartphones that gives consumers a variety of choices. Founded in 1997 with a passion for innovation and a vision for how smartphones would change people’s lives, HTC has continually driven this vision by consistently introducing award-winning smartphones with U.S. mobile operators.
“HTC disagrees with Apple’s actions and will fully defend itself. HTC strongly advocates intellectual property protection and will continue to respect other innovators and their technologies as we have always done, but we will continue to embrace competition through our own innovation as a healthy way for consumers to get the best mobile experience possible,” said Peter Chou, chief executive officer, HTC Corporation. “From day one, HTC has focused on creating cutting-edge innovations that deliver unique value for people looking for a smartphone. In 1999 we started designing the XDA and T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition, our first touch-screen smartphones, and they both shipped in 2002 with more than 50 additional HTC smartphone models shipping since then.”
The industry has recognized HTC’s contributions through a variety of awards including Fast Company’s 2010 Top 50 Most Innovative Companies and MIT Technology Review’s 2010 50 Most Innovative Companies. The GSMA also recently awarded the HTC Hero as the “Best Phone of 2009.” Some of HTC’s technology firsts include:
• First Windows PDA (1998)
• First Windows Phone (June 2002)
• First 3G CDMA EVDO smartphone (October 2005)
• First gesture-based smartphone (June 2007)
• First Google Android smartphone (October 2008)
• First 4G WIMAX smartphone (November 2008)
In 2009, HTC launched its branded user experience, HTC Sense. HTC Sense is focused on putting people at the center by making phones work in a more simple and natural way. This experience was fundamentally based on listening and observing how people live and communicate.
“HTC has always taken a partnership-oriented, collaborative approach to business. This has led to long-standing strategic partnerships with the top software, Internet and wireless technology companies in the industry as well as the top U.S., European and Asian mobile operators,” said Jason Mackenzie, vice president of HTC America. “It is through these relationships that we have been able to deliver the world’s most diverse series of smartphones to an even more diverse group of people around the world, recognizing that customers have very different needs.”
Source: HTC Corporation
John Paczkowski writes for AllThingsD, “The implication here seems to be that these ‘firsts’ somehow negate Apple’s claims that the company violated 20 of its patents. And while it’s certainly possible that might be the case, it’s hard to accept that argument without a list of patents to back it up. Harder still, when HTC says nothing about its legal strategy for dealing with Apple’s assault.”
Paczkowski asks, “Does HTC plan to countersue? Does the company have any IP of its own with which to mount a viable defense? Or will it simply take Apple to the mat with its ‘strong disagreement’ and toothless positioning statements like the one above?”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: ‘Tis highly likely that Apple would not have launched concurrent lawsuits with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and in U.S. District Court, if they didn’t believe they had a strong case against HTC et al.
From my readings Apple PAID Xerox to see the Xerox UI. That’s not stealing. And Apple greatly improved upon what they saw. Unlike some other company I hear of. You know, the upside down poor example of a UI? Any Rate, Remember that Apple paid Xerox good money. When you pay for something it’s not considered stealing. And no, it’s not a ripoff! You need to go north for that company.
Just quack’n my 2¢
I have a vision of HTC’s lawyer in the courtroom, delivering his/her rebuttal, after Apple has spent days presenting its case;
The HTC Counsel opens their briefcase, which contains a peanut butter and jam sandwich wrapped in wax paper, an Archie comic book, a fresh legal pad, and three, new, freshly-sharpened pencils.
HTC Counsel: “Your Honour, HTC disagrees with Apple’s actions here.
That is all.
Thank you.”
KingMel, the Sensible and Protector of Realm
@Andy
My 2 cents:
While it is pretty obvious that the current US patent system is broken, I also believe that some form of system is needed to protect expensive (or other high risks !?) inventions to be invented.
Yes, processes and methods are patentable. You can’t patent the twisting motion itself, but you can patent a method to achieve the twisting motion.
With Apple, the innovations with multitouch include the methods
and processes developed to interpret and assign actions to the gestures, not the gestures themselves. You can’t patent the swiping of two fingers, but you can patent the processes that are triggered by the action of swiping two fingers, or how the device responds to such gestures. There is a difference.
Andy,
You engage in endless what if’s, and drag in extraneous issues and arguments to cloud and obfuscate the truth of this issue.
HTC (and companies like them) can not be permitted to steal wholesale what apple (or any company FTM) invented or soon we will have little or no innovation. (which paradoxically (or not;-) is precisely the mobile communication environment that HTC (and other like Nokia and Moto) thrived in for the 10 years pervious to the introduction of the iPhone)
@KingMel, Nashgul
Thanks for the thoughtful responses. It’s a bigger issue than can probably be adequately debated here, anyhow – especially the semantics. I use and like Apple products myself, but am concerned when Cupertino channels Redmond on occasion.
I’ll finish this with one final point to…
@Uncle Fester’s Cousin
Heh, you’re either ignoring or haven’t understood my actual point (possibly because I didn’t explain it clearly?). Apple owns the iPhone, yes but <u>not the ideas that created it</u>. HTC are hardly going to launch a phone that is a complete clone of the iPhone complete with Apple logo and all – they’re going to take the ‘best ideas’ from Apple’s device and incorporate it (perhaps shoddily) into their own. Such is the way of all human invention and product development…
In any case, I’m quite sure people will be able to tell the better device apart. And if a few people prefer, or decide to buy the HTC device because of price or tariff, then I have no problem with that. I’ll buy an iPhone and be happy regardless. Simple.
Apple can quite legitimately (and rightly) claim to be the originator of the multi-touch gestures etc, but do not own them as some sort of exclusive property.
I always laugh when marketing organizations do the ‘WE PROTEST!’ routine. It’s all for show for the stockholders. For the rest of it, in this case, it’s another boring dancing-on-their-own-grave go-go show. Have fun HTC. Your lawyers love you.