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(NEWS 6/11/10) HTC suing APPLE!?

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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LOL yes I admit that's a damn funny vision
PoisonWolf said:
Patents in the US are so horribly executed.
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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....

iPhone Patent a Huge Blow to Rival Smartphone Makers

Just released Today. Repost from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1135896
I figured it get more exposure here than there.
Apple's newly awarded patent gives it ownership of the capacitive multitouch interface, spelling big trouble for rival smartphone makers, say patent experts.
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"Apple could conceivably restrict makers of touchscreen smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices from selling their products in the U.S. More likely is that Apple would reach a settlement with such competitors and start licensing its patented technology for a tidy new income stream.
If Apple does decide to play hardball and squeeze out rivals rather than set up cross-licenses, the source said, it's entirely possible that a court could find it in the public interest to scrap the patent rather than allow a monopoly on what has become a defining interface for an entire category of consumer devices."
Here is The Patent:

This changes everything. Now Apple can rest peacefully about it's continued existence in the face of Android's dominance in the smartphone market. Apple can require Google to license it's multi-touch tech and possibly throttle Android's dominance.

Wow apple... Yet another low blow to the Android community, how can they patent the idea of multiple inputs on a touch screen?
That's like putting a patent on fire...
Sent from my Zio using XDA Premium App

I'm gonna patent keyboards, then y'all be really screwed

NewZJ said:
I'm gonna patent keyboards, then y'all be really screwed
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haha for real huh? With this patent and the iPhone 5 coming out i guess we'll have to wait and see what happens.

How can you patent something that already exists elsewhere?

PharmCAT said:
How can you patent something that already exists elsewhere?
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It didn't exist when Apple applied for the patent. 3 years ago Apple started working on multi-touch display tech and it was unheard of until Apple revealed work on it. They just now got awarded the patent. It took 3 years of the the system to get to it.

This is really nothing new, companies do this all the time. In order to create x86 base cpu cores, AMD licenses out x86 and other instruction sets from Intel, Intel licenses out x64 instruction sets from AMD, and there are others to note.

If apple decides to sue everyone and becomes ridiculous and extremely lame, then it doesn't have to mean its the end of the world.. who knows, maybe someone such as htc will design a new line of touch screens that are superior to capacitive touch

Now is it for multi touch displays in general, or is it for like 2 finger touch or something like that?
Edit-It looks like it's for 2 finger touch, N and M being the amount of fingers. To get out of the license fee, they could try to use displays that use more than 2 fingers if the licensing fee is too much.

wow. Putting patent on multi touch screen is like Toyota (other auto maker) patenting number of tires on cars.

Sounds about right. I just hope this doesn't mean a price hike for non-Apple consumers. And I especially hope this doesn't somehow allow them to monopolize the touchscreen market.
Sent from my Inc using Nil's Business Gingersense. Now that's Incredible.

I know this sounds awful for us android users but it could be the greatest thing. With phone makers not allowed to use capaacitive screens, this almost forces them to use Surface Wave (SAW) screens. They also allow multi touch but are completely different. If you look them up they seem even better than capactive screens. They were considered unpracticle for phones because they were not resisitant to dust/water/dirt (meaning this stuff would just linger on the screen). But some phone makers have succesfully made covers, per say, for these that completely wipes out this problem. One major advantage is that they are scratch resistant and completely finger print resisitant. Also, while capacative screens only let through about 85% of the light, these screens let through about 92% on the low end. Some high-end screens have even let through 98%. This allows for theses screens to have the absolute best display/resolution. Look here to see the great specs.
http://www.softtouch.co.in/saw.htm

e334 said:
If apple decides to sue everyone and becomes ridiculous and extremely lame, then it doesn't have to mean its the end of the world.. who knows, maybe someone such as htc will design a new line of touch screens that are superior to capacitive touch
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Click to collapse
Kind of like how some Japanese companies are investing in alternatives to rare earth minerals which the Chinese are considering restricting. There's always a way around an obstacle. HTC, the best phone maker in the world, will no doubt have an alternative to capacitive displays. It might be a few pennies more expensive than current displays, but would certainly allow the industry to continue on.

<insert your favorite lawyer joke here>
One day you will come to realize the scope of this idiocy and then you might even want to kick all the lawyer's asses, but it might be too late already. The rest of the world will be speaking Chinese.
P.S.
MartyLK said:
It didn't exist when Apple applied for the patent. 3 years ago Apple started working on multi-touch display tech and it was unheard of until Apple revealed work on it. They just now got awarded the patent. It took 3 years of the the system to get to it.
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Extreme BS. http://cs.nyu.edu/~jhan/ftirtouch/

If you can't beat the competition, buy/patent it.

Microsoft Surface anyone?
They had the first prototype back in 2003.
I wonder how their patent differs...

Sometimes I wish I was a hitman. Id eliminate the idiots allowing these patents..
#FlameBait
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

xaccers said:
Microsoft Surface anyone?
They had the first prototype back in 2003.
I wonder how their patent differs...
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Almost all these new patents are absolutely not new. The problem being the FUBARed U.S. patent system. In a sane system, you do no grant patents without any review like USPTO and do not tell the competitors "go sue them in case you have objections". (Will rather non commment the SW patents nonsense.)
Not to mention, that the language has become completely incomprehensible in order to obscure the nature and scope of the "patent" as much as possible for future patent racketeering purposes.

Just another example (probably, at least, though I'm not certain) of the patent and copyright systems running amok.
This better not put a major dent in the Android market. Hopefully at worst it'll force Android phones to become even more competitive.

Apple files for preliminary injunction against the Infuse 4g (among others)

http://m.engadget.com/default/artic...s-4g-dr/&category=classic&icid=eng_latest_art
---"if this thing holds, and it's determined that the aforesaid products may well indeed be infringing on Apple's rights, Sammy could be forced to yank those products from US shelves within a couple of months."---
Wanted to give a heads up for those thinking about getting the infuse that you might have to get it soon. Damn I hate patent wars like this. I hope apple loses... hard

if apple wants to sue samsung over the look and function of the tw launcher app drawer as it is similar to the ios home screen they may as well sue lg for stealing samsungs look as well. apple has been stealing form and function from other companies from day one, the only reason it is an issue for apple is that samsung makes popular devices.

Apple's ripping off Android's swipe down notifications too. Then they have the nerve to say that Samsung is ripping them off. Funny how hypocrisy works...

Man, I was just about to post this. Its completely ridiculous. I hope apple loses hard as well.

has anyone seen apple's keynote for ios5? nearly 8 of their 10 "new" features are ripped from android. features that google has had for a few years now..

samsung is a much bigger company than apple. apple only has there marketing and public image. this wont hurt samsung one bit. on the other hand if google gets involved and if samsung wins the 20 some odd pattent infringments in cell technology that they are suing apple over then apple could be crushed pretty hard.
this is apples business strategy. steal all the great i deas they can and portray an image that the opposite is happening. they have been doing this as long as they have been in business. everything from there aesthetics to the technology in there products to there os's take advantage of the better ideas out there that already existed while they put a stupid half eaten apple on it and tell the world they are inovators.

WOW!: Apple Wins Final U.S. Patent Ruling Banning Some HTC Phones

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.
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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"
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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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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.

Android and Microsoft Patents

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.