back to article HTC's iPhone, iPad ban bid derailed by US judge

Legal blows continue to rain down on Google's Android partners. In a preliminary ruling, the US International Trade Commission said Apple isn't infringing the patents of rival HTC Corporation. The ITC is a popular venue for intellectual property cases because it can stop the import of goods, which was what HTC wanted it to do …

COMMENTS

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Apple FTW.

    These other companies should start innovating themselves rather than copying Apple.

    Wonder when will Apple sue Google themselves?

    1. DrXym

      Copying Apple?

      HTC has been making PDAs and smartphones way before the iPhone turned up.

      1. Justin Clements

        ahem

        Apple Newton - started development in late 80s, and MessagePad was 92 or 93.

        HTC - 1997.

        1. Piro Silver badge
          Thumb Down

          No, not seeing it.

          These things are not pocketable, and never included GSM radios.

          If anything, they're more like a wacom tablet (I'd wager much older) and a giant psion mushed together.

        2. DrXym

          Apple Newton

          Newton launched in 1993 and was canned by 1998. I wouldn't exactly call it an auspicious endeavour for Apple. Indeed Jobs killed the program. And Apple wasn't the first to produce PDAs either. Psion had PDAs before the Newton and they and Palm arguably had vastly more success popularizing the format.

      2. chr0m4t1c

        @DrXym

        Before their first 'droid phone in 2008 all of HTC's phones used WinCE (or whatever MS called on the day), so calling them smartphones is stretching the definition a bit...

        Which PDA did they make? I wasn't aware of any, I thought they just made phones until recently.

    2. JarekG
      FAIL

      RE: "Wonder when will Apple sue Google themselves?"

      for what? Stealing Apples search engine algorithms?

    3. Alex.Red
      Megaphone

      Yes, they will, soon...

      Don't you think that "Ice cream" sounds familiar?

      Yes, indeed, Chocolate Factory is trying to dethrone Apple. Think again: "iScream"!!!

      Who could of think about such smart move? ;-)

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I get a bit tingly when anyone but Apple uses the word "innovation" in a sentence, like it's a big "fuck you" to the big guy throwing his weight around.

  3. squilookle

    They're all as bad as each other. Plenty of other industries, the automotive industry for example, are made up of companies offering similar products (all containing four wheels, steering wheels, engines, gear boxes, etc), and not suing each other for it. They really should drop the legal action and compete on making the best products.

    1. Dr. Mouse
      Thumb Up

      I couldn't agree more.

    2. Trygve
      FAIL

      I take it you're not super-familiar with the early days of the auto industry...

      Once upon a time, if you wanted to make cars in the US you had to pony up licencing and patent fees for the privilege http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_Licensed_Automobile_Manufacturers

    3. Martin Lyne

      Let us not forget: Apple started this blocking nonsense. Admittedly the Samsung tablet does look just like an iPad, but the mobiles are all being blocked on spurious terms.

      Here's hoping ait all blows over soon and we can get back to using our consumer power to determine what gets bought and what doesn't.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    so Android running products get banned _before_ X'mas

    while the iThingies _might_ get banned _after_ X'mas.

    By the way, what are the chances that if Apple is found guilty, some politician will move in to protect the "American Brand"?

  5. Earl Jones Of Potatoes
    Childcatcher

    double loss

    A blow to htc indeed but mostly to google for playing the pimp by sending htc off to fight apple with its recently obtained patents.

  6. oddie
    Thumb Up

    Optional Title

    God, I know, why can't HTC stop copying apple in everything they do?

    I bet Peter Chou will die of resperatory failure due to complications from pancreatic cancer next.

    On a completely separete note, what is the dietary requirements of trolls?

    1. A. Nervosa

      Dietary Requirements

      A nice big bowl of spelling would probably be a good start followed by grammar on toast.

  7. Paul Hatch

    Of course Apple innovates.

    Only they could dream of charging you twice the price for a 10 inch netbook minus keyboard, installing a proprietry OS, locking you to their app store.

  8. Rob Beard
    Gimp

    Judge's response...

    no violation

    Sent from my iPhone

  9. Fab De Marco

    Judge Rules....

    OK Judges are supposed to be fair and unbiased... it's in the name.

    iPhones are very popular.

    So if a judge owned an iPhone, would he really rule in favour of banning sales of it in his home country?! Would he really?

    I half wonder if he didn't own an iPhone when he made his inital ruling, then one appeared on his doorstep the following day signed. Lots of Love, Hugs and Kisses from all at Infinity Loop.

  10. Velv
    Flame

    Call me cynical, but...

    US Court sides with US Corporation over import and sale of Taiwanese Corporation product (Apple over HTC)

    US Courts side with US Corporation over import and sale of US Corporation product (Apple over Samsung)

    Apple can't have invented *everything*

    I foresee the day when the Far East decides the US just isn't worth the effort. It's only a big market if you can keep your markup suitably high, and lenghty legal battles don't make for profits. Trade in Euros instead of Dollars and concentrate on the emerging markets. America is bankrupt anyway, and while it claims to be a democracy, it is really a Corporatocracy.

    1. Graham 25
      WTF?

      You're missing the point ....

      Apple can't have invented *everything*True but they don't claim that - just that the others have slavishly copied Apples work ?

      "I foresee the day when the Far East decides the US just isn't worth the effort. " It will never happen - the Far East are fantastic imitators and copiers, but don't generate a fraction of the ideas of the west. Thats why there are no Chinese products out there that the west craves. All they do is make our stuff. Everything is imitation.

      When was the last time that far east companies came up with anything that wasn't a copy of something created in the West ? Sony Walkman I think, but even thats pushing it as it was just a smaller copy of something that already existed.

      1. Graham Dawson Silver badge

        Slavishly copied?

        I'm holding an LG GD510, also known as the "pop". First released at the end of 2009 or thereabouts. Predates the iphone 4 by about a year. Now from a distance, if you aren't paying too much attention, it does actually look a *lot* like an iphone. It's got about the same dimensions,in bright light it's about the same colour (admittedly very bright light), it's got roughly the same radius on the corners..

        What I'm trying to say is, you seem to believe that apple invented this look, but I'm holding a device that disproves that.

        Now stop slavishly copying and trying to pass off on my name or I'll sue you.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "When was the last time that far east companies came up with anything that wasn't a copy of something created in the West ?"

        Are you high?

  11. Wang N Staines

    Hahahahaha

    A foreign company fight in a US system and expecting a favourable result.

  12. Tony Paulazzo

    Yea but that doesn't explain the Australia and Europe rulings, 80 odd billion is a lot of money, but apple can't own all the judges in the world can they?

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