IP experts warn Apple vs. HTC patent dispute is bad for everyone

John Brownlee ()

IP experts warn Apple vs. HTC patent dispute is bad for everyone

Yesterday, Cupertino surprised everyone by throwing a bonafide legal temper tantrum about rival handset maker HTC’s alleged infringement on up to 20 Apple patents.

Although Apple is targeting HTC, the takeaway here is clear: Apple’s going after Android, HTC’s bread-and-butter. Google recognizes this, and is standing in solidarity with HTC.

As Apple fans, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture here. Competition is good for the consumer, and Android becoming a credible threat to the iPhone’s dominance will only make the iPhone cheaper and better for consumers in the long run.

There’s other aspects that make this sort of patent battle bad news for consumers though. The New York Times Bits blog asked some IP experts on the possible ramifications of the Apple-HTC patent dispute, and according to Harvard Law School professor Jonathan Zittrain, if Apple wins, we could see the courts order HTC to hit the kill switch on their Android phones, just like what happened in the TiVo/EchoStar lawsuit of 2004.

“The judge simply ordered EchoStar to connect to the DVR boxes via the Web and destroy the functionality,” Zittrain explained. “Patent law is a completely different universe online. That means if the court were to side with Apple and issue an injunction that insists HTC kill the phone, or at least some of its functionality, they easily could.”

What’s the big deal, you might ask? Well, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander: Apple may well prevail in this lawsuit, but Apple is also being sued over patent infringement by Nokia. In fact, as the mobile marketplace becomes more and more crowded, a lot of handset makers are suing each other, trying to determine how much their patents are actually worth in a court of law.

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The point is, if Apple is capable of getting HTC to hit the kill switch on their Android phones in court, eliminating violated patents like, say, multitouch…. the exact same thing could happen to Apple down the road. An utterly broken US patent system, thousands upon thousands of overly broad user interface patents and dozens of ultra-competitive companies suing each other is a bad scene for all consumers.

Perhaps Eric Von Hippel, a professor at the Sloan School of Management, said it best: “It’s a bad scene right now. The social value of patents was supposed to be to encourage innovation — that’s what society gets out of it.  The net effect is that they decrease innovation, and in the end, the public loses out.”

33 comments »

About the author

John BrownleeJohn Brownlee is news editor here at Cult of Mac, and has also written about a lot of things for a lot of different places, including Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, Gizmodo, Kotaku, Lifehacker, AMC, Geek and the Consumerist. He lives in Cambridge with his charming inamorata and a tiny budgerigar punningly christened after Nabokov's most famous pervert. You can follow him here on Twitter.

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Posted in Hardware, iPhone, News, Top stories |

  • d.lete

    Imho, Von Hippel is a little off the mark here.

    The value of patents is encourage innovation, but you can’t encourage innovation without preserving the right of profitability those that do the innovation. No incentive, no innovation.

  • David

    I am all for competition, but copying implementations that are technologically advanced and unique is not competition, its metoism. If these other phone companies want to compete, let them build something better and unique that sets them apart rather than trying to follow the leader.

  • mike

    Big difference between competition and stealing patents. Its ridiculous to expect a company to sit around and let other companies steal their product design. Your confusing the issues and that is far from innovation.

  • http://www.toxicspark.com Andrew Macdonald

    Completely agree with David’s comment. Very well said!!

  • Get Real

    Copying innovative technology is not good competition. IT IS UNFAIR competition and when patented it is criminal. You are slandering the victim and coddling the thieving criminal copycat perpetrator.

  • Johanna

    Competition might be good for the consumer, but stealing is really bad for inovation.

    Google and HTC should just grind down and do some inovation by themselves instead of just (in good old MS style) rip of every good idea and claim it was their to begin with.

  • icebird

    Apple is full of it.. How the hell do you patent a gesture? A swipe of the finger. Whoever approved of that patent needs to be shot. Thats like me patenting a word or the way I walk. I can see if they open the iphone up and put what was in the Iphone in HTC phone but they didn’t. Android is full steam ahead and apple is doing whatever they can to slow that train down.

  • Don’t be Stupid

    You are a moron. It is the technology that was patented that lets the device function like no others ever did. I can’t patent the “BIRD”, but I can give it to you and you deserve it. If I were to innovate and figure out how to give you the “BIRD” by smartphone (without photos), I could probably patent it and prevent others from copycatting my development that I spent time and money to develop and innovate.
    Who cares about the way you walk? You are probably a hunched over slouch and no one would want to be like you.

  • Spk

    all of u are too serious u act like apples making money for u u dont make shit they do. These aint time machines there phones one day every phone was gonna be touch now most phones are touch and apple trying to say they cant use some shit they do like pinch fuck pinch haha . theres three things my phone needs to do call text and browse the internet dont care how they do as long as its fast. n ive been using macs my whole life so im not taking one particular side

  • IcyFog

    Why is this suit so much worse for IT than Nokia suing Apple?
    Is it becaue Apple fired first? Can not Apple sue too?
    I saw few anti-Nokia suit articles, blogs and posts, but as soon as Apple does everybody in IT is all about criticizing Apple.

  • IcyFog

    Where were the IP experts saying the Nokia suit against Apple was bad for everyone?

  • Jim H.

    It’s true that standards for patent approval are getting distressingly broad, and this is bad for — everyone but lawyers. I am not convinced that what’s happening here. If Apple is protecting a patent for, say, “navigating a touch screen with two fingers,” and they think they own any implementation of that concept, that might be too broad. If they’re protecting patents that are suitably specific — well, what Dave said. Figuring out where the suit falls on the spectrum is the tricky part.

  • mark

    Alot of Fruit Boys Here.

    Exactly what does your Iphone do that My Nexus One Doesn’t ? Uhhh,
    Nothing.

    The People that post here sounds like they work for or rely on Apple for food.

    Being a Fanboy makes you whiney and Bitchy.

    Competition is Good it’s Good I say!

    This Lawsuit is nothng but Apple trying to Fend off Competition From not HTC but Android.

    So Fanboy Boycott Google use Microsoft Bling, Enjoy your so Inovaded Iphone Hope you like the looks of your Background your non replaceable battery your Shtty At&t service.

    And i’ll stay with my ever more Customizable Android Phone from HTC.

    Just my .2 cents

  • Jack

    Well said, Mark.

    Let’s be honest. No one here sounds smarter by regurgitating the purpose of the patent system. Let’s stop the copying and recopying of the original purpose and intent behind the use of the patent system. As we all know, patent laws are in serious need of reform.

    Let’s shed the fanboy passions and look at the bigger picture instead of whining about how the author didn’t attack the lawsuit Nokia has against Apple. This current lawsuit under discussion could potentially have major ramifications. The last thing we need are irrational and illogical arguments for why Apple should be allowed to patent a simple gesture that turns off a phone’s buttons and screen. When we cut away the fluff and decoration, it’s clear Apple is waging a proxy war against Google.

    You can flame and disagree with me all you want. There’s a time and place for expressing passions and orgasms over a brand. When a potential monopoly is at stake, this is NOT the place.

  • http://www.PIAUSA.org Ronald J Riley

    Apple has a history of disrespecting others patent property rights and they have worked through a trade association of like minded banking, insurance and tech interests to systematically undermine patent rights of the little people, i.e., independent, academic and small business inventors. It is class warfare meant to turn the patent system into a kings sport.

    The name of that organization is the Coalition for Patent Piracy and Fairness and their idea of fair is that everyone should serve their unbridled quest for ever larger unjust profits.

    The patent system has been a huge equalizer which allows an inventor to take on and beat big companies who steal the inventor’s work. Needless to say, members of the Coalition for Patent Piracy & Fairness do not like the fact that inventors are successfully adjusting their attitudes. They also do not like that others produce the most important inventions.

    What Piracy Coalition members lack in an inability to produce the inventions they need they make up for with innovate propaganda, berating the inventors who produce the inventions which the Piracy Coalition member were unable to produce for themselves.

    Allowing these companies to continue taking inventions damages the whole economy because patented American ingenuity is the only way to maintain the kind of profits it takes to sustain America’s higher standard of living.

    When inventors retain their patent property rights they create either directly or indirectly decent jobs and prosperity in their communities because they have community ties. When a transnational Piracy Coalition member steals those inventions they generally ship most of the benefits outside America.

    Obama and his Administration are in bed with many members of the Piracy Coalition and are pushing their Patent Deform agenda. On one hand he talks about competitiveness and on the other he promotes a Patent Deform agenda which will line the pockets of patent pirating transnational banking, insurance and tech companies.

    Patent Deform will destroy competitiveness and Apple is a champion of Patent Deform.

    All in all it will be ironic if Apple’s constant work undermining our patent system leads to their patents being invalidated. While Apple probably deserves this, America’s people do not deserve to lose the only tool which can sustain our standard of living in the face of low wage global competition.

    Ronald J. Riley,

    I am speaking only on my own behalf.
    Affiliations:
    President – http://www.PIAUSA.org – RJR at PIAUSA.org
    Executive Director – http://www.InventorEd.org – RJR at InvEd.org
    Senior Fellow – http://www.PatentPolicy.org
    President – Alliance for American Innovation
    Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
    Washington, DC
    Direct (810) 597-0194 / (202) 318-1595 – 9 am to 8 pm EST.

  • JJSX

    Sorry, but android is just a ripoff the iphone os, and it even runs worse…
    Google should settle in an agreement with apple and not just use and copy stuff just be cause they’re big and they can, i thought do no evil was their motto, but they really start behaving like M$. Bad google…

  • Jack

    @JJSX

    Sorry bro, multitouch functionality and gestures have been out for years. Go read up on the lawsuit’s details before making more baseless accusations. Apple’s not suing Google.

    Do all Apple fanboys have poor reading skills?

  • JJSX

    it’s not just about the multi touch, it’s about the total UI and formfactor which apple started, and now htc/google end even M$ are starting to use the fullscreen it… how would google feel if an other company started of using their search and advertisement algorithms?

  • Jack

    @JJSX

    Once again, read up on the details on the lawsuit. Apple is not suing for multitouch or form factor but for a handful of details like the ability to turn off buttons and screen with a simple swipe when someone calls you.

    Multitouch technology has been around for roughly 25 years. Apple simply took the concept and innovated (NOTE: NOT INVENTED) it with the iPhone.

    Quit trying to alter your argument. I’ve been using touchscreen devices for about 10 years since my early high school days. I still remember my Compaq Ipaq and the HP Jornada. Well before the iPhone came out.

    There’s a good reason software patents like this one aren’t recognized anywhere else in the world. The Europeans have enough common sense to know that patenting a simply swipe gesture is idiotic as patenting the way a door knob is twisted clockwise or counterclockwise to open a door and gain entry to a room.

    I repeat. Apple. is. not. suing. for. multitouch. or. form. factor.

    Quit being such a fanboy.

  • Jack

    “it’s not just about the multi touch, it’s about the total UI and formfactor which apple started, and now htc/google end even M$ are starting to use the fullscreen it…”

    Saying “M$” is code for “I’m a douchebag fanboy.” Also the UI, patent or no patent, isn’t what’s being addressed in the lawsuit and last I checked, Android’s UI doesn’t breach on any such patents.

    Apple wasn’t the first to have a full-screen touchphone. LG had it first and even considered suing Apple for it back in 2006/2007 around release time.

    Oh and I almost forgot to remind you:

    Google isn’t party to the case. And search algorithms are a completely different animal. Try coming up with better analogies.

  • Jim H.

    I love the internet! Where else can you get flamed by posters who then go on to proclaim themselves the dispassionate ones? Yes, I have now sunk to that level, but at least my *first* post didn’t attack anyone.

    Seriously, I challenge all of us to discuss this stuff without resorting to epithets and snark. It don’t make you look no smarter, neither. And anyone, including me, who proclaims themselves totally right and those who disagree with them totally wrong, is, well…wrong.

    I know, I’m dreaming. Adult conversations on the web? The web is for porn!

  • Jack

    @Jim H

    Ok, I came off a bit strong, but seriously…the discussion of patent issues should preclude any misinformed fanboy passions.

    It seems to me there are some out there who will defend Apple’s use of frivolous lawsuits to the very gates of hell. I’m no Apple hater. But I am concerned about the future of touchscreen phones. The rest of us have a right to be worried. I’ve heard somewhere Apple has about $25 billion to burn. Plenty for a costly legal battle.

  • mark

    @JJSX LOL a ripoff of the Apple OS what the Unix OS just like the Android OS

  • mark

    Like I said before Competition is good for both Sides Android Boy, Apple Boy and Blackberry Boy all have more to gain by these new and improved phones.

    Who the Heck cares who makes them if they are better products and cheaper.

    When there is no other phones to compete enjoy paying 3 times the price for one choice one phone.

  • IcyFog

    Why isn’t the Nokia lawsuit against Apple perceived as bad as the Appple lawsuit against HTC?

  • NegroPimp

    Remember that a couple weeks ago, those arsetards at Nokia (a crap company) and Kodak (another crap company that can’t make decent cameras any longer) have bullied Apple with lawsuits. Good. Now it’s Apple’s turn to throw some crap on companies that infringed on its patents. Good. Let’s have everyone sue everyone else. Who are you fucktards bashing Apple for this? If dozens of other companies are going to sue Apple for stupid frivolous patent lawsuits, then Apple has every right to do the same. Apple has every right to do this. They have been punched in the face with so many lawsuits in the past 3 months alone, now it’s their turn to punch someone else in the balls. Apple, also please put Palm out of business with a lawsuit against the Palm Pre.

  • NegroPimp

    “Why isn’t the Nokia lawsuit against Apple perceived as bad as the Appple lawsuit against HTC?”

    Because these morons bashing Apple are morons… of the hypocritical kind. Morons. Like I said, Apple is just playing the “If you can do frivolous lawsuits, so can we” game. It should be all fair, let everyone get their chance to launch hundreds of patent lawsuits, real or imagined.

  • NegroPimp

    John Brownlee, were you one of those who also defended Nokia’s right to sue Apple when it launched its patent lawsuits at Apple? And why did you fail to mention (in your above commentary) the Nokia-Apple-lawsuit in light of what Apple is doing now? Why are you being so one-sided?

    IF OTHER COMPANIES HAVE THE RIGHT TO LEGALLY URINATE ON APPLE, THEN APPLE HAS EVERY RIGHT TO LEGALLY URINATE ON OTHER COMPANIES.

    Let everyone take a piss. Let everyone sue everyone.

  • Torvald

    This is Nokia’s fault. They started this patent-suit trigger happy trend (at least in the smartphone area). I blame them. They did it to Apple. And now Apple is simply following a precedent.

  • chris

    So If Nokia wins against Apple, Then Apple would pay damages to Nokia and then license what they need until they can come up with an alternative.
    If Apple wins against HTC, HTC will simply pay damages, then pay royalties until Google/ HTC can come up with something else….

    In the end it seems ‘intellectual property’ protection cost us the end user, no matter which platform one chooses.

    In the end only the IPR lawyers win……. no matter which side they are on….

  • zelrik

    Why is there so many comments in favor on the patent system. This is disgusting.

    HTC is an innovative company that did a lot of R&D within the past few years, and they respect Apple also, so why not settle an agreement outside court?

  • Frodo

    Most patents Apple sees infringed are trivial. If Apple succeeds with this, its a step closer to the end of innovation.

    Apple by itself isn’t innovative, they just buy small, innovative companies which are. Small companies don’t have large budgets for legal adventures.

  • Mrwirez

    Steve jobs is a thief and admits it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0UjU0rtavE

    Goose meet Gander mr jobs..