Patents

Beyond Apple vs. HTC: Who's Suing Who?

By Rene Ritchie, Thursday, Mar 4, 2010 a 12:33 pm

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.

More on Apple vs. HTC (Read: Android?) Patent Lawsuit

By Rene Ritchie, Tuesday, Mar 2, 2010 a 4:37 pm

While precious little new information is coming to light about Apple's just-announced lawsuit against HTC, a lot more specu-nalysis has been hitting the blogsphere, ranging from "Apple is seeking a cross-license to get HTC's patents" (shades of the accusations facing Nokia about their lawsuit against Apple), to "Steve Jobs feels personally betrayed by Eric Schmidt and is using HTC to get at Google's Android".

Apple Returns Fire, Requests US Import Ban on Nokia Phones

By Rene Ritchie, Saturday, Jan 16, 2010 a 12:11 pm

Previously, on Patent Wars, Nokia escalated their lawsuit against Apple by requesting a US import ban on virtually every product Apple makes with the International Trade Commission (ITC), and now Apple has responded in kind against Nokia phones.

Yes, phasers and disruptor fire is criss-crossing the legal heavens and photo torpedos are exploding in the silence of judicial space.

CEO(is)h-Snap: Android Founder Rubin Doesn't Like Two-finger Gestures

By Rene Ritchie, Saturday, Jan 9, 2010 a 11:49 am

Engadget confronted Android Founder Andy Rubin -- by all accounts a brilliant and passionate guy who really wants to make great products -- about why the US versions of the Droid and Nexus One don't use the Android 2.0 supported multitouch keyboard and gestures, while the non-US versions do. The response:

"It's not an America versus outside America kind of thing. It's a decision that is a result of the OEM model. I personally don't like two-handed operations... there is no conspiracy."

Nokia Sees Apple's Counter-suit, Files Against Virtually Everything

By Rene Ritchie, Tuesday, Dec 29, 2009 a 3:16 pm

Nokia, massive if alien-to-North America, sued Apple for WiFi/GSM/HSPA patent violation, at which point Apple spun around and counter-sued for iPhone patent violation, and now Nokia has yelled the legal equivalent of "fire everything!"

According to PC World:

UPDATED: Apple Countersues Nokia - Patent Pugilism Has Begun!

By Rene Ritchie, Friday, Dec 11, 2009 a 11:39 am

Remember when Nokia sued Apple for infringement over essential wireless patents? Us neither, but Apple sure does -- in a counter-suit which says Nokia is copying the iPhone interface. Says Bruce Sewell, Apple SVP and General Counsel:

"Other companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours"

And in the complaint:

Regarding Apple Multi-touch Patents, iPhone, Verizon Droid, and Palm Pre

By Rene Ritchie, Tuesday, Nov 3, 2009 a 7:20 am

Apple Sued Over Multi-Touch Patents

By Rene Ritchie, Wednesday, Apr 8, 2009 a 11:38 am

We all know Steve Jobs sculpted the iPhone from unicorn tears through a sheer act of singular will and hutzpah -- along with buying FingerWorks and winning a glove-full of multi-touch patents of their own along the way (which may or may not still result in several rounds of pugilism with Palm's Pre).

Origins of iPhone Multi-Touch... the Piano?!

By Rene Ritchie, Wednesday, Feb 18, 2009 a 9:31 am

We know the score. Apple now holds a veritable smorgasbord of multi-touch patents, some dating way back before the iPhone, and some coming from their 2005 acquisition of a company called Fingerworks, and the innovative talents of Wayne Westerman and John Elias. But from whence did they draw their inspiration? MacRumors pulls the relevant quote from a University of Delware article:

Apple Being Sued for iPhone Screen Rendering Acceleration

By Rene Ritchie, Saturday, Feb 14, 2009 a 4:33 pm

Another week, another iPhone lawsuit or three. If it isn't American's complaining about AT&T's 3G "network" (so bad, it's made (Giga)Om Malik abandon his iPhone), it's owners of white iPhones complaining about cracks in their plastic casings (which is effecting other, non-iPhones as well, making us suspect someone spike a plastic factory somewhere in China). This time, however, it's a patent dispute, and it's not Apple going after Palm, but Picsel Technologies taking it to Apple. According to Apple Insider: