Apple wins patent fight with HTC
— -- Apple on Monday won a ruling that says some of HTC's smartphones infringe on its patents, a legal blow that hits Android maker Google.
The U.S. International Trade Commission decision could ban some of Taiwan-based HTC's phones from the U.S. beginning next year. The ITC ruling found that HTC infringed on a patent that covers a method by which a wireless phone stores and arranges data. Certain functions of the HTC phones could be forced to be removed.
The ruling gives Apple a key legal victory in its battle against phones that run on Google's Android operating system. The order is set to take effect April 19. HTC can appeal the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals and request a stay.
In the meantime, HTC will be allowed to import into the U.S. some refurbished phones as replacements under warranties and insurance plans.
"The question is how easily can Android and HTC design around those claims," says Michael Barclay, a fellow at the non-profit privacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco. "If they can design around it, then they don't even care."
If they can't, they could potentially lose some functionality that is comparable to that of Apple's iPhone.
If the technology usage applies to other Android phones, then it could have wider-reaching implications.
The ruling is the first definitive decision in the dozens of patent cases that began to proliferate in 2010 as smartphone makers battled over a market that at last tally included more than 117 million phones worldwide, according to Strategy Analytics.
Apple has been the most aggressive in its legal efforts, trying to slow the growth of Android devices, including those made by Samsung Electronics and HTC. HTC generated about $5 billion in U.S. sales last year, according to a separate patent complaint it filed at the trade agency against Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple.
Among the HTC phones at risk of being blocked from the U.S. are the Nexus One, Touch Pro, Touch Diamond, Tilt 2, Dream, MyTouch, Hero and Droid Eris, according to Apple's original complaint.
HTC phones accounted for 24% of the U.S. smartphone market in the third quarter, based on shipments, researcher Canalys reported. Samsung held 21% and Apple, 20%.
The fight can be traced back to a decision by then-CEO Steve Jobs in March 2010 to file the HTC case, the first patent complaint by a device maker targeting Android. Jobs, who died Oct. 5, made it his mission "to destroy Android," which he said "ripped off the iPhone, wholesale," according to Walter Isaacson's biography of the Apple founder.
Contributing: Bloomberg News
