“HTC Corp. said Monday that it will appeal a preliminary ruling by the U.S. International Trade Commission that said on Friday that it infringed on a pair of patents held by Apple Inc.,” Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal reports.
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“A finding by a staff attorney at the ITC is being pointed to as some reason for hope for HTC in overturning the preliminary ruling, something which is rarely done,” Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal reports. “The company said over the weekend that it may also seek ‘alternative solutions’ to the ruling, which may indicate that it believes it can find a technical way to work around the Apple patent infringement issue.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: “Something which is rarely done.”
David Meyer reports for ZDNet, “‘We are highly confident we have a strong case for the ITC appeals process and are fully prepared to defend ourselves using all means possible,’ HTC’s general counsel Grace Lei said in a statement. ‘We strongly believe we have alternate solutions in place for the issues raised by Apple. We look forward to resolving this case, so we can continue creating the most innovative mobile experiences for consumers.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The day HTC creates “the most innovative mobile experiences for consumers” is the day we switch to Windows.
Related articles:
Apple’s U.S. ITC patent victory threatens future of Google’s Android – July 16, 2011
How Google’s Android infringes on Apple’s patents in U.S. ITC determination – July 16, 2011
U.S. ITC finds HTC infringed upon Apple patents – July 15, 2011
HTC decries ‘Apple’s constant attempts at litigations instead of competing fairly in the market’ – July 12, 2011
HTC stock tumbles after Apple’s new patent lawsuit – July 12, 2011
Apple’s second ITC complaint against HTC Android products dissected – July 11, 2011
Apple files second U.S. ITC trade complaint against HTC, seeks to block HTC imports – July 11, 2011
Steve Jobs loads up on high-powered legal team to protect Apple’s intellectual property – April 22, 2010
Apple’s patent infringement lawsuit: The elephant in HTC’s new headquarters – April 2, 2010
Apple patent infringement lawsuit applies pressure to HTC – March 3, 2010
Apple puts the entire industry on notice by suing HTC for patent infringement – March 03, 2010
What Apple vs. HTC could mean for the future of mobile devices – March 03, 2010
Apple looks for expedited proceedings in patent infringement case against HTC – March 03, 2010
Patent lawyer: Apple’s going after HTC first, Motorola’s next, but Google’s the real target – March 03, 2010
The specific Apple patents over which Apple is suing HTC – March 02, 2010
Boom! Apple sues HTC for infringing on 20 iPhone patents – March 02, 2010
Nice grandiose statement. Of course they’ll appeal, while they negotiate with Apple for some kind of license to avoid the risk of having their products banned from import into the lucrative U.S. market.
Apple doesn’t like to license, particularly, to infringers.
“We look forward to resolving this case, so we can continue creating the most innovative mobile experiences for consumers.”
So they’re all going to quit and go work for Apple?
Like a child caught with it’s hand in the cookie jar.
MDN you just got iCal’d
Shackle, there is no chance MDN will ever have to eat those words.
In highly technical cases such as this where the judge makes a sui generis judgement covering patent law that is applicable to highly specialized cases (no two patents are exactly alike) an appeal can only succeed on a point of law, very rarely on a point of fact. Unless the law was interpreted incorrectly, an appeal will almost have no chance of succeeding.
Also the right to appeal is not enshrined as the legal right of the litigant or defendant – it is by leave of the sitting judge and appellate court, either whom may deny or grant the leave to appeal. To all intents and purposes HTC had better gird itself to accept the inevitable and accept the judgment as it stands.
As for alternative means of solution this can only mean negotiating with Apple as to the likely sums sought in damages or some form of cooperation such as radically redesigning the infringing parts of the product in exchange for lifting the ban. All courses of action that are available to HTC are limited in scope and effectiveness.
In chess when you’re checkmated the only thing to do is extend a hand in defeat and accept that the scoreline reads 1-0.
It seems to me that HTC’s only chance of emerging with minimal damage is to find a way to turn the tables on Apple in a different legal judgment, thus providing an incentive for both parties to find common ground. If HTC cannot find a way to do that, then the company is in for a giant bag of hurt.
the ‘work around’ for the patents disputed in the dozens (one estimate: 49) of lawsuits aimed at Android by Mircosoft, Oracle, Apple etc is making phones from two tin cans and a piece of string.
In two years people will wonder what you mean when you mention ‘HTC’.
“‘We are highly confident we have a strong case for the ITC appeals process and are fully prepared to defend ourselves using all means possible,’ HTC’s general counsel Grace Lei said in a statement.”
Translated this ‘lawyer’ means that we will be able to charge a shyte-load of money to the company for this losing cause. Happy days are here again…la la la….
I bet the HTC spokesperson sphincter muscles contracted at it’s maximum capacity whenever the word “innovative” is used. lol
Meaning 1: HTC will bribe the ITC for a favorable outcome.
“… it may also seek ‘alternative solutions’ to the ruling, which may indicate that it believes it can find a technical way to work around the Apple patent infringement issue.”
Meaning 2: that HTC admits infringing Apple’s patent ALREADY and they need a second chance to find a technical way to go around the infringement.