Beyond Apple vs. HTC: Who’s Suing Who?
While Apple vs. HTC is getting a ton of press this week (TiPb a culpa!) the New York Times blogs provides the above graph to show us it’s just another strand in the growing web of mobile patent pugilism.
Although patent litigation is not new in the technology world, these suits, specifically around mobile, point to the drastically changing mobile landscape. Lawyers I spoke with explained that mobile technology was still in its infancy and these large computing companies were trying to stake their claim to the future of computing.
So far only Microsoft, Google, and Palm have remained uninvolved. (That’s actually quite a list of prominent names, isn’t it). Meanwhile:
Apple was sued by the Taiwanese company Elan Microelectronics over alleged infringement of touch-screen patents. Nokia went on a lawsuit spree, suing Apple, Samsung, LG and a variety of other mobile handset companies. Kodak sued several companies over patents related to the companies’ digital-imaging technology.
And, of course, the aforementioned Apple vs. HTC. Here’s our question, and it’s one we’ve asked before — does it matter to consumers? Are we spectators watching Godzilla battle King Kong, or are we the city folks running for our lives as buildings drop around us?
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I plan on getting the 3G version just so I don’t have to rely on wifi. One of the reasons I never used my iPod touch very much was because I couldn’t get internet wherever I wanted it (i.e. the bus, etc.). With a device that’s always connected, I won’t have that problem.
@Will
I think you posted to the wrong thread.
It matters, even for consumers. Support HTC.
Spectators. No way this heated . . . fevered? . . . level of competition isn’t good for innovation, good for pricing, and good for consumers in general. Sure, the money spent on lawyers could be better spent on R&D — but at least Apple has the money to spend on both.
Newsflash, July 2010: Apple buys HTC.
Wow…Nokia really likes to sue.
I don’t get why people are picking sides. In the end, consumer loses.
Apple haters: Well, if Apple wins, it’s shutting down the biggest producer of Android phones. Strongest competitor (mindshare wise) to Apple and iPhone.
Apple Lovers: If Apple wins, and then continues to knock out every other touchscreen phone maker (since their patents are obviously broad enough to cover every touchscreen phone known to man) then what do you think they’ll do with the iPhone? They’ll have no one to compete with. There will be no need to “innovate” because they have no competition.
I agree that patents are needed to protect certain things, but this is just asinine. I will state in all caps, I AM NOT UPSET AT APPLE NOR DO I HATE THEM. I AM UPSET WITH THE PATENT SYSTEM.
Granting a patent to basically own ANY type of touch gesture to unlock a screen is ridiculous. Yet they did (Apple’s patent seemingly does not just cover slide from left to right, but all gestures).
I hope this case forces someone to look into how the patent system is laid out. And it is fixed.
iDavey, to be blunt, that’s nonsense. You are assuming that the only decent smartphone is one that works just like an iPhone. Real innovation is someone coming up with the next big paradigm shift, the way Apple did in 2007. Don’t spend your time and money trying to duplicate the iPhone — spend your time and money rtrying to surpass it and make it irrelevant.
These kinds of things are hard to read. A lot of these lawsuits are purely strategic. My read of the situation here, for instance, is that HTC has been pushing into territory without covering itself. For instance, it has been working to make the Sense UI to offset the UI deficiencies of Windows Mobile. Because HTC makes a lot of handsets, is a frequent partner of Google, but also has been pushing into UI territory, that makes HTC a worthwhile target for Apple. I think the operative thing with HTC is that it has ambitions in numerous areas that are peripheral to the actual manufacture of cell phones; they also want to get into UI design and tablets (remember the HTC Shift?).
The situation with Nokia is obviously different; they are a big company that has lost some sales, and suing everyone is a strategy that costs X dollars with an expected return of X+Y dollars. Finally, I think MS, Google, and Palm are not involved for a combination of reasons: first, MS and Palm have been losing in the market; second, all three have been covering themselves with plenty of IP, and they aren’t leaving themselves vulnerable by moving into new territory without defending themselves; and third, none of them stand to gain much by filing lawsuits.
I still think that none of these companies want to get into a situation where a court could overturn their patents.
Poor HTC randomly gets sued, they were completly untouchable until apple went and jerked them arround.