HTC Infringed Apple Patents, Says ITC's Initial Determination 230
CWmike writes "A judge at the U.S. International Trade Commission has made an initial determination that HTC infringed two Apple patents, HTC said late Friday. If the judgment is made final, HTC could be banned from importing phones to the U.S. It's the latest blow to Google's Android operating system, which is being attacked by competitors including Apple, Microsoft and Oracle. The initial determination will now be reviewed by a larger panel of ITC judges, who can uphold or reject it. The two patents appear to be fundamental to Android, according to Florian Mueller, a patent expert. 'They are very likely to be infringed by code that is at the core of Android,' he wrote in a blog post. The same patents are also at the heart of a dispute between Apple and Motorola, he said."
Florian Mueller is a dick head. (Score:3, Insightful)
That is all.
Re:What else is new. (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously. All computer software patents should be voided on the grounds that they are merely expressions of existing mathematical formulae and logic structures and prior art applies as a result. When it comes down to it it's all loops, conditionals, and math placed in an organizational structure or if you go even further.. 0s and 1s.
"My 0s and 1s were first, pay me millions!"
Moving beyond a world of patents (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Florian Mueller a patent expert? Really? (Score:2, Insightful)
Did Apple just lap Microsoft? (Score:4, Insightful)
I think Apple's lapping Microsoft in the douche of the Universe Award. I mean, we still have the swimsuit competition... *shudder* Ballmer in a bikini...
Apple's been getting on my LAST nerve, well, since they went Intel. I'm seriously re-thinking my interest in anything Apple at all. Steve Jobs can sit and spin... The only reason Apple's doing this is because the real threat for their smartphone business is Android phones. I wonder how long it'll take before Apple and Microsoft go toe-to-toe in the smartphone arena...
This fiasco, folks, is why Software Patents are evil.
Re:Sure they did. (Score:4, Insightful)
They most likely didn't pay anyone. The problem is that Android DOES infringe on those patents. Now, are the patents legal and should they be is another question altogether. And is the patent system completely and utterly stupid is yet another question.
What puzzles me in this is that Google cannot do a thing to help their manufacturers because they have so few patents. Why they didn't buy Nortel's portfolio is well beyond me. This would have been over in a snap.
Re:What else is new. (Score:5, Insightful)
Exactly! It's worse in software patents. In hardware you can do something that a competitor does but do it with different hardware but in software if you do some function that a competitor does it doesn't matter that you did it with different code. It's the function that is patented in software patents not the code. The code is of course covered by copyright which renders the entire matter insane to start with. Lets just use copyright to protect software design! How simple! Not to mention fair. We can't have that though it would interfere with stifling innovation.
Re:So how does this effect the rest of the world? (Score:5, Insightful)
Not sure why you'd think it only affects android. The Patent 5,946,647 effectively says nobody can scan some text and when a pattern is detected offer options associated with that pattern in the display. First thing that springs to mind is that probably every email client in the world is in violation, as they scan the text and turn email addresses into links.
It's a pure software patent, and as such not valid in Europe.
Phillip.
Re:Florian Mueller is a dick head. (Score:1, Insightful)
What about Apple's infringement of GSM patents?
And when, exactly, does Apple (2nd largest company in the world) get sued for extending one monopoly into another, again and again and again?? iPod (90% marketshare. Monopoly) -> iTMS (Fairplay only worked on iPods. 70% of legal downloads) -> App store (iPhones/iPods only runs signed apps. 59% of the market out of 58 app stores online [research2guidance.com]) -> ... I guess having a former US VP on your board goes a long way after all.