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HTC Appealing Against ITC Ruling for Two Apple Patents

By Sidney Wong - on 18 Jul 2011, 10:05am

HTC Appealing Against ITC Ruling for Two Apple Patents

 

HTC is now appealing the ruling by the U.S International Trade Commission (ITC) last Friday that it had violated two Apple patents that are currently used in its Android devices.

According to CNNMoney, HTC infringed on the U.S Patent No. 5,946,647, which Apple filed back in 1996. The patent covers the system and method of accessing information through a message received. For example, if a message received contains a phone number or an address, these information are automatically hyper-linked.

There are three possible outcomes to this patent dispute. First, if a six-member panel overrules its appeal, ITC can implement a ban of HTC's Android devices before the end of the year.This would mean that HTC's market share would shrink to zero percent in 2012. Second, it is possible that Apple is willing to cross-license the technology in exchange for HTC's patented technology. Third, HTC can find a way around the patent, which is very difficult as the patent covers a basic technique.

This is among the many patent cases filed against the Google Android operating system recently. If Apple gains the upper hand in this round, it will also spell doom for the rest of the brands that adopt the Android platform in their mobile devices. We might even see Apple taking full control of the smartphone market in 2012 if it manages to implement a ban on all Android devices.

Source: CNNMoney

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