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WHAAAAT HTC trying to take down the iPhone!?
HTC has achieved somewhat of a moral victory when their May 2010 patent counter claim at the International Trade Commission against Apple was not laughed out of court.
The International Trade Commission said it would take up the investigation, which has to do with "certain portable devices and related software."
HTC claims Apple infringes 5 of their patents, and is asking the commission to ban the imports of key Apple mobile products into USA. Typically the ITC moves much faster than federal courts, and we could see the whole issue come to a head in only a few months.
HTC is responding to an earlier patent challenge involving 20 patents which Apple took to the ITC and the U.S. District Court in Delaware.
While the patents appeared mostly directed at HTC’s Android work, HTC has recently entered into a licensing agreement with Microsoft which ironically may provide some protection for their Android products.
So really what HTC is saying is: "WE ARE NOT! going to let you walk all over us" because suing... is a game of 2.
Full article can be found Here
Oh thank God someone has the balls. It's probably too much to hope that Apple's new iPhone gets delayed, or even better...recalled...lolol.
Could you imagine the look on the poor schmucks face at the moment he goes to get his shiny new POS iPhone rung up and the clerk goes, "Whoops, sorry buddy, but I can't sell you this!". Will there be a black market for iPhones?
Again, if only if only...it's just too much to hope.
~Jasecloud4
lol I don't want to rain on anybody's parade through Cupertino, but this is actually fairly standard practice in patent law (and other types as well)...this countersuit is HTC's way of saying "No, we're not going to settle, and we're fully prepared to go 9 rounds with you over this". Companies often do this as a way to strengthen their legal position when defending against the original claims. i.e. "not only are we not infringing on your patents, you are infringing on ours!"
So, yes it's a good sign that HTC has chosen this route vs copping to a quick settlement or licensing terms...but it's not exactly groundbreaking either.
I know, but sometimes lawsuits can have unexpected results. Maybe I just hate Apple a little too much, but massive recalls, psychotic hysteria on the part of Apple users at the loss of their iPhones, and an overall general anger at Steve Jobs is a small part of dream I have lolol...
I think this was posted a while back on Engadget. Anyhow, this is a good thing. It shows how far HTC has come.
It's unlikely that Apple will lose the case, but I'm certain that HTC can get them to drop the bull****.
Patents in the US are so horribly executed.
jasecloud4 said:
I know, but sometimes lawsuits can have unexpected results. Maybe I just hate Apple a little too much, but massive recalls, psychotic hysteria on the part of Apple users at the loss of their iPhones, and an overall general anger at Steve Jobs is a small part of dream I have lolol...
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Click to collapse
LOL yes I admit that's a damn funny vision
PoisonWolf said:
Patents in the US are so horribly executed.
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Click to collapse
Amen! There's companies that make more off of their patent portfolios than from any actual prodcut or service they sell, and it's worse in the IP sector than anywhere.
Dude the only reason I hate apple is because they think they OWN YOU I mean think about it steve jobs iPhone is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT than HTC.
HTC says you need a phone that gets you and apple says YOU NEED THIS phone just because we are apple.
I hate that! its like monopoly all over again! ITS ABOUT DAM TIME SOME ONE STEP UP TO THEM!
even if HTC won, apple wouldn't be made to recall the product. They can't, once its sold it's sold (unless its an app from the app store, or a book on the amazon reader thingy where they can just delete it, of course, hehe, and even then, most lawyers agree that would be technically unlawful))
You, the buyer cannot be penalised for the sellers law breaking/mistakes. There won't and never will be a forced recall in these cases.
no they wont recall the phones yet they will spend millions rectifying software on the iPhone in order to step outside of infringements which is good enough for me as Apple are self obsessed wan**rs in my personal experience buying Apple products quickly reflects upon your own personality too,
HTC in my opinion are just flexing their Muscles that they have acquired by taking some microsoft steroids but in all fairness it is about time Apple get slapped in the face - maybe this will make them realise they cant do what they want
i love legal battles between companies especially smaller vs bigger, and in this case the smaller will probably win =]
I'm so happy this took a strange turn. HTC should have a voice... they have been producing touch screen phones far longing than apple. i think HTC knows they screwed up leaving Microsoft in charge from developing state of the art touch technology. i don't think its right for one company to with hold such a standard feature. Its like Intel saying they patented the computer's cpu and chipset, and motherboard, so anyone else following this directly be sued. also suing for monetary is lame, but suing to peace is acceptable in my book. everyone wins (besides neither will ever win the war, but rather pay to win one expensive battle, which are crippling fees to lawyers and officials who decide their fate. Since they both bring in lots of cash flow, this system wont allow this monopoly to happen) In the end they'll just compete with technology, which as a consumer we get the best technologies for the lowest price point (currently apple wants to put that hurting on consumers wallets.
Apple is afraid. it has been confirmed that T Mobile USA will launch apple product next month in July. Apple has expanded its market in despite of android replacing the popular growth of Blackberry users. Now apple wants a piece of that market, and they have agreed to jump into other markets to obtain that. apparently At&t can only pay for a timed launch for a product and can not force another company to deal directly with them, unless of course they purchase that company out...
This has been on the HTC website for some time now. I'm surprised nobody made a thread about this sooner....
http://beta.news.yahoo.com/wyoming-state-government-goes-googles-cloud-221104996.html
Wyoming has become the first state to completely adopt Google Apps, Governor Matt Mead Announced this morning. All 10,000 state employees are now completely dependent on Google Apps. According to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, Governor Mead says the switch “Will provide us the opportunity to do our job better because now we have a better tool. For Wyoming, it’s a big deal, and for Google, it’s a big deal.”
...
But now that an entire state’s government will use its platform, Google can start making a better case to be taken seriously on the federal level
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Goodbye RIM. This is awesome because Android is truly the best phone platform, and this blows away the BB "enterprise" trash that keeps people on bad phones. Also, maybe our elected officials can use Android, an AMERICAN company, instead of RIM, a Canadian one, and help to keep jobs in America.
RIMs stocks dropped 21% last week.
There has been a rumor floating around for awhile that RIM would go the way of Sega... stop producing hardware and start producing software for the other players. I'm not sure if its a smart business move myself, but the writing seems to be on the wall.
If BBM for instance was available on Apple/Android then Blackberry sales would be nonexistent. Their mail handling, enterprise servers, security and messenger apps are really the only thing that keeps Blackberry in the running.
A lot of businesses have begun to drop Blackberry support (or at least force employees to use blackberry exclusively for business), seems the Torch may have been one of the catalysts... Tech guys HATED those phones almost as much as their users.
Awesome! Long live the Android.
Article says that this could also mean that the state will start choosing Android for its state-provided smartphones, so it's not a shoo-in just yet.
I have read about a few other municipalities that are making an effort to switch over. Trouble is most States legislatures are busy try to tackle budget issues and and by tackle it seems that both side just argue about the budget and what to cut. Sad considering how much licensing costs could be saved with a widespread adoption of a free system.
A few medium sized towns here in NC already use this as a standard.
Hope the trend continues.
Well that is interesting cant wait to see what comes of it
Yes, yes, technically the Google-Motorola deal still isn’t final. In other words, anything could still go wrong and Motorola may just back out of the big deal of the moment.
But for now, we’re still all delirious about how Google has announced its near-definite purchase of Motorola Mobility, makers of such landmark phones as the RAZR of yesteryear and the Droid series.
And yet Google is not a hardware firm, while Motorola Mobility (let’s just call them Motorola for simplicity) is all about the hardware. So pundits have been abuzz about how Moto may not be a good fit for the Google ad-based ecosystem, or how its presence in Google’s arsenal could actually be a liability when dealing with other phone makers.
Well, here’s what I think: I think it can work… but Google will have to break up Motorola.
The way I see it, Motorola has four core sources of value:
•The patent portfolio, which has been Google’s target all along
•Manufacturing capabilities
•People and talents
•The brand legacy
Google needs two of these cores and can do without the other two. Can you guess which ones?
Yup. Patents. And people.
Therefore, if I were Google CEO Larry Page, here’s what I’ll do after the acquisition process has been completed:
•Move the patent portfolio from Motorola’s assets into Google’s assets – yup, let Google own them directly
•Reorganize Motorola so that Google gets to pluck some of their more brilliant groups and talents. Larry Dignan of ZDNet says there’s gold in Motorola’s enterprise sales team. I’d go further and say take them out and create a separate Google-Moto enterprise SWAT team to help bundle the entire Google experience
•Spin off Motorola into a fully-owned but autonomous design and manufacturing operation, with a Google-appointed board of directors… and with no patents of its own for now
As a Google-owned corporation, Motorola benefits from getting cheap (or free) use of the patent portfolio which it developed in the first place. And they still get to do their own thing like before… except now they have to do Android the way Google wants them to do Android. Bonus: no cash flow worries.
And with Motorola being a separate entity, partners like Samsung and HTC will have peace of mind.
Extreme case: Google strips all patents out of Motorola, and then SELLS Motorola off again since it doesn’t have any use for a hardware firm.
Google, meanwhile, will find itself in the pleasant situation of becoming a patent repository. They will realize that a patent is, after all, information… and hey, they’re in the information business, right?
So this may lead to a potentially new business model. Right now, they have Google Patents, and it serves only as a helpful but non-revenue-generating search engine. But what if it could become a revenue-generating search business too?
What if businesses search for patents that they need and, right next to the results entries, they can click on a rights purchase plan that they can take right there and then? Google then becomes the financial intermediary between inventors and commercial developers… and they get a royalty cut per unit sold.
In the scheme of things, 17,000 patents isn’t that much, but it’s a start. Google can now start commercializing these patents and putting price tags on them, available to whoever wishes to get them. And maybe pricier if you happen to be Microsoft or Apple.
Far out? I don’t think so. It may not happen exactly this way, but I think something like it is inevitable in the future.
I'm not sure if you know, but Motorola is separate from Motorola Mobility. The company split in two earlier this year I believe. Hence why Motorola phones now have red Ms as logos to signify Motorola Mobility. So Google is buying the mobile phone portion of Motorola, not Motorola as a whole.
And Google being in the business of hardware is not a bad thing. They will set the standards for builds and hardware that will (hopefully) unify the other Android manufacturers. They aren't out for blood with this move, they are out to:
1. Create a solid and unchanging platform model to develop their OS against.
2. Protect themselves from Apple.
3. Protect competitors of Motorola from being sued by Motorola.
I don't see this as a vicious take over of the Android hardware arena, but more as an attempt to unify, set standards, and cover their butt. Apple is acting like a-holes, so this HAD to happen. If this was about cornering the market in hardware, they would have taken the open clause out of Android completely.
majorpay said:
And Google being in the business of hardware is not a bad thing. They will set the standards for builds and hardware that will (hopefully) unify the other Android manufacturers. They aren't out for blood with this move, they are out to:
1. Create a solid and unchanging platform model to develop their OS against.
2. Protect themselves from Apple.
3. Protect competitors of Motorola from being sued by Motorola.
I don't see this as a vicious take over of the Android hardware arena, but more as an attempt to unify, set standards, and cover their butt. Apple is acting like a-holes, so this HAD to happen. If this was about cornering the market in hardware, they would have taken the open clause out of Android completely.
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I agree. Apple is a software company who outsources their hardware manufacturing; They don't make their own parts. But people assume and treat them like they do. "OMG the iPhone 4 is beautiful, Apple builds them so well too". No, Apple DESIGNED them, but they didn't BUILD them. All the credit is given to Apple. You see what I'm getting at?
Google doesn't have a "face" in the market. The average person doesn't know Android is made by Google (who actually didn't make it themselves to begin with, but that's another story). At least now people will have a brand to associate with Google.
Product F(RED) said:
I agree. Apple is a software company who outsources their hardware manufacturing; They don't make their own parts. But people assume and treat them like they do. "OMG the iPhone 4 is beautiful, Apple builds them so well too". No, Apple DESIGNED them, but they didn't BUILD them. All the credit is given to Apple. You see what I'm getting at?
Google doesn't have a "face" in the market. The average person doesn't know Android is made by Google (who actually didn't make it themselves to begin with, but that's another story). At least now people will have a brand to associate with Google.
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Click to collapse
In most cases (getting technical), Apple actually didn't design anything either. They either acquired the I.P. through buying other companies, or in other cases, they license a third party manufacturer to create something that is pretty much the same as everything else, except with proprietary functions and perhaps a unique case design. Look at the state of their modern PCs. They are, for all intents and purposes, nothing more than a PC, BUT they contain some proprietary interfaces to ensure a lack of compatibility.
As far as Google having a name in the hardware arena, Motorola has always been that face, as anyone who has heard of Android has heard of Droid, and by by-proxy Motorola (of course, their fame extends to the Razr as well in the mobile sector).
Closed
As much interesting your post can be, all related topics must be posted in here
By Susan Decker - Dec 19, 2011 3:46 PM GMT-0800
Apple Inc. (AAPL) won a patent-infringement ruling that bans some HTC Corp. (2498) smartphones from the U.S. starting next year, bolstering efforts to prove that devices running Google Inc.’s Android operating system copy the iPhone.
The U.S. International Trade Commission, in a review of a judge’s findings in July, said yesterday that HTC is violating one Apple patent related to data-detection technology and issued a limited import exclusion order that takes effect April 19.
“HTC will completely remove it from all of our phones soon,” Grace Lei, general counsel for Taoyuan, Taiwan-based HTC, said in an e-mail. The six-member commission determined that three other patents in the case weren’t infringed.
While less than what Apple sought, the ruling gives the company its first victory in patent cases designed to slow the growth of Android, which former Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs claimed “ripped off the iPhone.” Apple has one other case against HTC, as well as complaints against Samsung Electronics Co. and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., and is involved in more than a dozen other cases before the trade commission.
“The battle between Apple and Android is going to continue,” said Peter Toren, a patent lawyer with Shulman Rogers in Potomac, Maryland, who has been watching the cases. “I’m not sure this decision, the way it is, is enough to push the parties to settlement. Apple doesn’t have the leverage of a total exclusionary order.”
Nexus One
The list of affected products and a full reason for the commission’s decision, which is subject to appeal and a presidential review, wasn’t immediately made public. Apple’s original complaint named HTC’s Nexus One, Touch Pro, Diamond, Tilt II, Dream, myTouch, Hero and Droid Eris.
Kristin Huguet, a spokeswoman for Cupertino, California- based Apple, declined to discuss the possibility of a settlement. She repeated the company’s position that “competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology.”
Representatives from Google had no immediate comment.
The ruling is the first definitive decision in the dozens of patent cases that began to proliferate in 2010 as smartphone makers battle over a market that Strategy Analytics Inc. said increased 44 percent last quarter from a year earlier to 117 million phones worldwide. HTC, the second-largest maker of Android phones, used its partnership with Google to help transform itself from a contract manufacturer founded in 1997 to the biggest U.S. smartphone seller in the third quarter.
HTC Sales
HTC generated about $5 billion in U.S. sales last year, according to a separate patent complaint it filed at the trade agency against Apple. That’s more than half of HTC’s $9 billion (NT$275 billion) in global sales last year.
The commission’s order applies to new phone imports and doesn’t force HTC to pull existing devices off U.S. store shelves. The company can import refurbished phones to fulfill warranties or insurance contracts through Dec. 19, 2013.
“This exemption does not permit HTC to call new devices ‘refurbished’ and to import them as replacements,” the commission said.
Apple’s so-called ’647 patent covered a feature in which the phone recognizes a telephone number so it can be stored in directories or called without dialing.
“The ’647 patent is a small user interface experience,” Lei said. The company is pleased with the commission’s overall decision, and “we respect it.”
IPhone 4s, Galaxy
HTC phones accounted for 24 percent of the U.S. smartphone market in the third quarter, based on shipments, Palo Alto, California-based researcher Canalys reported Oct. 31. Samsung held 21 percent of the market, and Apple 20 percent. The market is volatile, and the Apple iPhone 4s that went on sale in October and Samsung’s newest Galaxy phone are likely to change the rankings for the fourth quarter.
Apple contended in its complaint that the HTC phones infringed four patents. Administrative Law Judge Carl Charneski in July sided with Apple for two of the patents: the data- detection one and the other covering the transmission of multiple types of data. The commission overturned the judge’s findings on that patent, and affirmed his determination that the remaining two patents weren’t infringed, which covered ways software programs are written and executed.
The commission, a quasi-judicial arbiter of trade disputes with the power to block products that infringe U.S. patents, chose in September to review Charneski’s findings.
‘Destroy Android’
Apple has a second complaint pending before the commission that claims other HTC smartphones and Flyer tablet computers infringe five patents related to software architecture and user interfaces. Apple also has cases before the trade commission and in district courts against Samsung and Motorola Mobility, which Google agreed to acquire in August.
The fight can be traced back to a decision by Jobs in March 2010 to file the HTC case, the first patent complaint by a device maker targeting Google’s Android operating system. 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.
HTC has retaliated with two trade commission cases against Apple, one submitted last year and one in August. HTC lost a preliminary ruling by a judge in the case filed last year, a decision that the commission is now reviewing. The other case has yet to be decided. S3 Graphics Co., a company HTC agreed to buy in July, also has two commission cases against Apple, one of which Apple won last month.
Mobile Advertising
Google, which hasn’t been named in any of the Apple cases, denies copying the iPhone and said in a filing that Apple is trying to control the U.S. smartphone market through litigation.
HTC’s Android devices “are helping prevent Apple’s iOS from becoming the sole viable mobile platform and thus ‘locking in’ consumers and software developers to that platform,” Google said in the Oct. 6 filing.
Google’s Android accounts for about 70 percent of the smartphone operating systems used in the U.S., according to Canalys. Mountain View, California-based Google licenses Android to handset makers for free as a way to further its business of selling display and search advertising on mobile devices.
Google’s share of this year’s estimated $2.1 billion U.S. mobile-ad market will expand to 24 percent from 19 percent in 2010, Framingham, Massachusetts-based researcher IDC said Dec. 13. Millennial Media Inc.’s slice may climb to 17 percent from 15 percent, and Apple’s will decline to 15 percent from 19 percent.
The case is In the Matter of Certain Personal Data and Mobile Communications Devices and Related Software, 337-710, U.S. International Trade Commission (Washington).
This is hardly a win for Apple if you look at the facts of the case:
- Only android 1.6 - 2.2 devices are affected
- HTC has already stated they will be working around this to remove the infringing item from their phones
- Out of an initial ten patent violations alleged by Apple, the ruling has been in Apple's favour 'only partially' for one patent.
Yes it is extra work for HTC but not the nightmares that were painted in the press. And *it does not effect new devices*
I first read about it here:
http://gizmodo.com/5869507/htc-android-phones-are-being-banned-from-the-us-next-year
droidwizzo said:
This is hardly a win for Apple if you look at the facts of the case:
- Only android 1.6 - 2.2 devices are affected
- HTC has already stated they will be working around this to remove the infringing item from their phones
- Out of an initial ten patent violations alleged by Apple, the ruling has been in Apple's favour 'only partially' for one patent.
Yes it is extra work for HTC but not the nightmares that were painted in the press. And *it does not effect new devices*
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Good!
I know it's a long shot, but I do hope this shallow victory deters Apple from trying to use patents as a weapon. Why can they just go back to innovating things and beating the competition through trying to be better?
Sigh, I miss Y2K-era Apple...
nak1017 said:
Good!
I know it's a long shot, but I do hope this shallow victory deters Apple from trying to use patents as a weapon. Why can they just go back to innovating things and beating the competition through trying to be better?
Sigh, I miss Y2K-era Apple...
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Why do many sectors of industry fight against knock-off and copies? Answer that and you'll have the answer you seek.
Apple sauce is slimey and another big brother corporation!
MartyLK said:
Why do many sectors of industry fight against knock-off and copies? Answer that and you'll have the answer you seek.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
evrey 1 copy appul. herp derp. appul invent smartpone and mp3 player. Herp a derp.
Things apple copied:
fruit
Phones
3G
Bluetooth (Although they made it semi-unique by crippling it)
Mobile operating systems
Microsoft
Lies (especially in advertising)
Steve Jobses DNA
Android
Shops
1 gig processor
fanbois
Samsung (They get samsung to sopy their own stuff for them)
LG
LG Prada
Trolls
Reality distortion field
Themselves
Ubuntu
The linux penguin. (He was cool long before apple)
coolness (Other, mainly only percieved by other apple fans)
Delusion
Windows
Satan
Obviousness (once again especially in advertising, "Herp - If you don't own a eye pad well you dont own an eye pad -derp"
All of these companies are taking losses with this whole patent war
hungry81 said:
evrey 1 copy appul. herp derp. appul invent smartpone and mp3 player. Herp a derp.
Things apple copied:
fruit
Phones
3G
Bluetooth (Although they made it semi-unique by crippling it)
Mobile operating systems
Microsoft
Lies (especially in advertising)
Steve Jobses DNA
Android
Shops
1 gig processor
fanbois
Samsung (They get samsung to sopy their own stuff for them)
LG
LG Prada
Trolls
Reality distortion field
Themselves
Ubuntu
The linux penguin. (He was cool long before apple)
coolness (Other, mainly only percieved by other apple fans)
Delusion
Windows
Satan
Obviousness (once again especially in advertising, "Herp - If you don't own a eye pad well you dont own an eye pad -derp"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ROFL.... Hahhahahahaaa. I love this post, although I'm not in complete agreement with that.
Steve Jobs made it his "MISSION" to destroy Android... Whoa! Either that's a statement made by the media, or Late Mr. Jobs was an arrogant dummy. Methinks it'll turn out to become... MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE.
theultimate1 said:
Steve Jobs made it his "MISSION" to destroy Android... Whoa! Either that's a statement made by the media, or Late Mr. Jobs was an arrogant dummy. Methinks it'll turn out to become... MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE.
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Click to collapse
Honestly, the man seemed to be filled with a lot of hate near the end there so I kind of believe it's something he would say... I don't think he was a dummy, but it is sortof sad.
You know everyone's making a huge deal about this when it only covers 1.6-2.2 do you know any device on the market that sells with 2.2 on it everything's on 2.3 even the cheap budget phones
LOL exactly
if i were managing HTC, i'll simply pull those outdated phones off the shelf and replace them with another dozen of low budget HTC phones on 2.3 or 4.0 as they always like to do
it'll cost them less, than spending man hours and pushing a new ROM and convince people to use the new ROM with the replaced apps
and we all know older 1.6 phones wont be able to use any updated OS, so it'll pointless
it seems now Apple want to be the top brand of smart phone and for that they have to beat rivals like android etc because they know that some HTC phones are much better than the iPhone and just want to get rid of every smart phone maker by using court
I kinda have mixed feelings here. I hate Apple with a passion. I also hate HTC because their from from way back in the day sucked. I guess the lawyers/judge were all Apple sheep with their iphones and what not. lol
I know its not a "big" win, but in the law world it is a win and helps Apple set some precedence in any other patents cases. Apple, why you no like competition?
Well, even if Apple did won, it's not that big of a victory from what I see. In fact, HTC has already made a workaround according to cnet: http://cnet.co/sC3XnE. I'm thinking HTC has foreseen this and created one before hand just in case.
Not that hard to work around. And well, why are they afraid of competition? Because as soon as Apple sheep see a CHEAPER, and BETTER device that is just as dumbafied for them, they'll surely jump on a new bandwagon. For a corp that feeds solely offa those people, I'd be scared of losing them too.
A P P L E=Assholes Placing Patent Lawsuits Everywhere.
Someone needs to stop this madness!
sooyong94 said:
A P P L E=Assholes Placing Patent Lawsuits Everywhere.
Someone needs to stop this madness!
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Oh man, I really like that!
sooyong94 said:
A P P L E=Assholes Placing Patent Lawsuits Everywhere.
Someone needs to stop this madness!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like that. Someone make a t-shirt out of it so I can where that at the Apple store!
Anyways, this is one of the many reasons why I don't like Apple. I like to say they are arrogant but it's not due to their products or pricing, but due to how they rather use patents to kill healthy competitors instead of thinking up newer and better ideas for their products. They rather kill and destroy innovation rather than allowing others to embrace it. If Apple keeps this up, the mobile market could might as well stay stagnant.
Hi,
the Microsoft-Android is an hot topic since a while, MS is getting money from Android devices,
but according to many sites the infringed patents is unknown:
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft...veloper-pays-microsoft-patent-royalties/11062
http://www.phonearena.com/news/_id32090
On another site I read that the 4.1 update should remove some patented code from the system:
http://nvonews.com/2012/07/07/galaxy-nexus-ban-update-to-android-4-1-jelly-bean-may-help-avoid-ban/
and I have noticed that in Android 4.1 the X button to clear all the notifications is replaced with three dashes (picture attached)
and I remember Microsoft to register a patent about something like "showing alternate data when pressed an X button":
http://badpatents.blogspot.it/2011/05/pop-up-window.html
Maybe this is the case why Google changed the X button?
Cheers,
Matteo
Its probably a stupid generic patent like the many Apple has, but at least Microsoft charged a bit for royalties instead of trying to ban products outright. It gives the impression that they were trying to protect their patent against possible infringement instead of trying to halt competition which seems to be Apple's agenda.
I really hate this patent war. I agree that you can't infringe someone's registered patent but when they patent every little things, I think it's just to kill other competitors. Just imagine if the gaming industry started a patent war. Activision is gonna sue the $H!T out of everybody for using regenerating health in FPS.
Joel5121 said:
I really hate this patent war. I agree that you can't infringe someone's registered patent but when they patent every little things, I think it's just to kill other competitors. Just imagine if the gaming industry started a patent war. Activision is gonna sue the $H!T out of everybody for using regenerating health in FPS.
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I know, I always look to the car industry as every brand has similar designs yet its a mature industry so there aren't any lawsuits in the news. Patenting the x button (a very basic part of the GUI window system) would be like a car company patenting the car door handle.