Industry body rebuts Google’s and HTC’s public interest arguments against potential Android import ban

“Yesterday I reported on the ITC staff’s modification of its position on a potential ban of HTC’s Android-based devices that could result from Apple’s first ITC complaint against the Taiwanese company,” Florian Mueller reports for FOSS Patents. “In a blog post on the ITC staff’s original position I also mentioned that an industry organization named Association for Competitive Technology (ACT) was preparing a submission on the public interest aspects of that case.”

“ACT’s public interest comments were filed late on Monday and I reviewed them today. As I expected, ACT strongly opposes any weakening of patent rights, arguing that this would hurt innovative businesses, particularly the roughly 3,000 small and medium-sized companies that ACT represents,” Mueller reports. “In addition, ACT receives sponsorships from some large players including Intel, Microsoft and Oracle. ACT officials have repeatedly testified in U.S. Congress on policy issues.”

Mueller writes, ” I think ACT’s submission highlights some important facts in a competent, thoughtful way and puts a spotlight on certain undeniable shortcomings of Google’s and HTC’s public interest arguments. That’s why I believe ACT’s filing is a useful source of information for everyone wishing to form an independent opinion on these issues.”

Read more in the full article here.