HTC Already Has Workaround for Apple Patents Cited in ITC Ban

[Phillip Swanson]

HTC wasted no time circumventing a ban the International Trade Commission levied against the company for violating two of Apple’s software related patents.

HTC mentioned the patent workaround at a joint announcement today alongside Google Mobile Senior Vice President Any Rubin. It appears both companies anticipated the ITC’s ban and were actively prepping a solution before the ruling was even made. The infringing patents No. 5,946,647: "System and method for performing an action on a structure in computer-generated data" and No. 6,343,263: "Real-time signal processing system for serially transmitted data" aren’t nearly as important as first suspected.

"The majority of these patents [in Apple's complaint against HTC] were claimed in the operating system itself, but actually in this case what was allowed...is some user interface feature of an application, not the operating system itself, so that's why I'm very optimistic in basically my desire to achieve patent peace on the overall platform” — Rubin.

While the two patents may not be as crippling as orginally thought, this is largely due to HTC and Google’s foresight in sidestepping the ban. Both companies had till April of 2012 to make the necessary alterations, and announcing a workaround this early is nearly unprecedented. As a result, non of HTC’s devices will likely be affected by the ITC’s ruling.

Moral of the story for handset makers: know Apple will sue you eventually, assume they will win, and be prepared. I wonder what the 21st century version of Aesop's Fables would be like?

Source: Bloomberg & WSJ

[TooSlo]

I can't wait until the Goog-arola merger is finished and (hopefully) Mountain View goes to battle with Cupertino.

[Phillip Swanson]

It'll definitely add another wrinkle to the patent wars.

[domenicp]

Don't see how this would achieve patent peace. It may workaround this particular issue in this particular suit (we'll see), but it won't put an end to the patent wars.

[sziklassy]

Don't see how this would achieve patent peace. It may workaround this particular issue in this particular suit (we'll see), but it won't put an end to the patent wars.

Eventually someone will give up (concede and stop this nonsense) or die (close shop).

[quidam_brujah]

Eventually someone will give up (concede and stop this nonsense) or die (close shop).

Actually, it's simpler than that: don't make crap that violates patents, or challenge the patents validity. What's nonsense is these companies making something that they have reasonable suspicion will violate a patent and then trying to work it out in court or negotiate a settlement.

If they honestly thought it was that integral to what they were making and that it's not a new idea -- or that they had it first -- they could challenge the patent and be done. It's not like Apple patent filings are secret.