The International Trade Commission (ITC) recently placed an import ban on several HTC devices in the United States for violating an Apple design patent. The ban wasn’t set to take place until April of 2012, but Apple’s win would effectively end HTC’s short-term business in the US if HTC failed to develop a workaround.
Noting that it was already working on “alternate solutions” to sidestep the patent infringement issue when the ITC’s ban was announced, HTC has today confirmed that it has already developed a fix that will keep its Android-powered devices safe from Apple’s lawyers for the foreseeable future.
Bloomberg reports:
HTC Corp. has already completed a technical workaround to skirt a U.S. agency ruling that found a user interface in some handsets infringed an Apple Inc. patent.
“It’s actually quite rarely used,” HTC Chief Executive Officer Peter Chou said of the feature. The company will continue to work withGoogle Inc. to “protect ourselves,” Chou said in a media briefing at the company’s Taoyuan, Taiwan headquarters today.
The patent that HTC infringed on was a system-level part of the Android OS that HTC has now removed altogether. When the ITC ruled its decision two days ago HTC said that the Apple patent was a “small UI experience” that would be easy to remove.
It’s unclear as to if Apple will be able to pursue other Android handset-makers with this same design patent.
Alex Heath is a journalist who works for Tech Insider. He’s the former co-host of The CultCast. He has been quoted by the likes of the BBC, KRON 4 News, and books like “ICONIC: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation.” He lives in Lexington, Kentucky. If you want to pitch a story, share a tip, or just get in touch, additional contact information is available on his personal site. Follow him on Twitter.
15 responses to “HTC Already Has A Workaround Finished To Sidestep Apple Patent Infringement [Report]”
HTC must make good products, because Apple keeps suing them. Everybody knows Apple comes up with the good ideas first, so anybody else with a good idea must have stolen it from them.
So, Alex, That really was a “huge win” you posted about a couple of days ago, wasn’t it?
/Sarcasm off
Didn’t you hear? Apple now has a new business strategy…
If you cant beat them.. sue them
Apple could still potentially go after more Android phone makers. It gives the company much more clout.
Well when you rip off another company’s ideas they yes sue them. Microsoft did it to Apple back in the 80’s with their windows operating system that looked almost identical to the Mac OS. Because Scully was in charge of Apple at the time it was not defended as hard as it should have been. Problem is you folks see apple as the enemy yet they are the ones brining the innovation that everyone else has to copy just to keep up.
i’m not getting into the whole “who copied who” argument
People have improved on other peoples ideas for millenia.. that’s why we are not stuck in the stone age and i’m not beating you over the head with a rock.
Lawsuits and patents only hinder progress for the sake of profit of a company, end of the day it’s the customer that loses out.
If it wasn’t for taking an existing idea and improving it, Apple wouldn’t be where it is today.
And WTF do you mean by “You folks” ???
Dude you really ought to mention what the patent is…… a patent on so-called data-detection, such as touching a phone
number or an address in an e-mail to dial or find the address on a map. Its just ridiculous that Apple has got a patent on something as unbelievably basic and broad as that.
To me the story isnt about Apple winning or HTC losing, its about the patent system being an absolute nightmare that allows rich companies to consolidate their market position with strong arm tactics that crush the (relative) little guy.
Apple didn’t sue Microsoft, because they have stolen the UI, mouse and some other stuff from Xerox themselves.
What I find simply amazing is:
Apple walks into court with 10 Patents. 9 are found to be invalid. The one that is found to be valid, is such a minor patent that HTC, literally, has a fix for it by the end of the court case.—- is a “win” in the eyes of the Media and in some cases a “huge win”.
How the hell is this a win for Apple when, literally, the next day HTC has a fix that completely fixes the infringement and by the time there would have been an impact on HTC, all the infringing devices will be fixed? That isn’t a win for Apple. That’s a LOSS.
That’s total BS Apple licensed the UI and the mouse from Xerox. They paid Xerox stock for using their stuff. That’s the correct way to do things. When someone else has a patent you have to pay them to use their invention. Go educate yourself.
Go back to school .. Apple didn’t steal anything. They licenesd the UI and mouse from Xerox, and then MS copied it.
Scully was pissed and threatned to sue, but met with Gates and gave it away for a song, when he should have held his hand to make them innovate.
Think of Xerox and Apple each time you click “Help” while using MS Paint.
“You folks” as in an audience?
folk |f?k
1 (also folks ) informal people in general: some folk will do anything for money| an old folks’ home.• (folks) used as a friendly form of address to a group of people:meanwhile, folks, why not relax and enjoy the show?• (one’s folks) the members of one’s family, esp. one’s parents: I get along all right with your folks.|
Pop the corn. This is far from over!
HTC looks and feels good until you drop it a couple of times or get scratches on the screen. Then it’s just a derivative product that makes you wish you had bought the real thing.
not what folk means… what he meant by using “you folks” in that context, because to me, it sounds like he’s implying i’m a part of some larger group.