I guess the guys at Nokia had the same thought…

Care to give a clue which patents are implicated? Or do you expect the commentators to do the research for u?

Apple you steeled the GUI interface from XEROX :)

The only way Apple iPhone has left to compete. Apple’s suing it’s iPhone competitors in court. Let’s pray they Lose Big!

I was waiting for this from apple.. as in the last few days there has been nothing to discuss about ..

Now we have got something interesting..

I think Google will be supporting HTC here ..

Feeble attempt to steal Android’s obvious thunder.

if only every company protected their IP that well. That would push everyone to be more creative instead of shelling out the same products over and over. I generally despise apple for the way they manipulate their customers, but i applaud them for their strict IP policy.

Apple should take a step back…

- i forget how the rest goes.

Dear snarky anonymous commenter, we suspect the suit was filed at around the time Apple decided to inform the public by way of a press release that a suit was being filed in the first place.

We have yet been unable to retrieve any records of said lawsuit, probably because a record hasn’t been published by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and the U.S. District Court in Delaware yet.

It is anyone’s guess which patents Apple is referring to. As soon as we can do an update on the story, we will.

We don’t expect our commentators to do “the research” for us, but thank you for the offer.

Yours truly,

TechCrunch

PS: “u” should be you, unless you’re a teenage girl sending us a text message?

“..but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”

I think he does not remember what he did to Xerox’s point-and-click interface back in the days. Shame.

They should lose this time as instead of shelling out new creative products they are concentrating their focus somewhere else..

They have become another evil I would say..

Nokia went after Apple, not the other way round.

Facts, lad, facts…

It’s all very well saying that companies should be creative but if Apple are claiming to own the concept of the touchscreen Web phone it’s difficult to see what can be created, a thought based handset?

Might not be know at this time. The complaint will eventually show up and will set forth the allegations. It’s not just the patents, but the specific claims of each patent that is being asserted that needs to be reviewed (e.g., one patent might have a single dependent claim that is being asserted). Not worth trying to figure out since Apple has many patents.

Interestingly, Apple has come out with both guns blazing:

“The lawsuit was filed concurrently with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and in U.S. District Court in Delaware.”

It filed one lawsuit in the speedy ITC (which can only block importations, but rules quickly) and another suit in Dist Court in Delaware (DEL Dist Court handles a lot of patent cases and are well versed in patent law).

Their “strict IP policy”?

Does that include stealing ( or “borrowing” ) other people’s inventions — from the mouse and windowing system to the Unix OS from FreeBSD, which they now fight in court claiming it “theirs”…? (OS X) ….and put small businesses out of business who want to use it on hardware not sold by Apple…?

Is that their strict IP policy?

Strict, yes.

Moral? Ethical? Ha! What a laugh!

@Robin
I had the same question as igniman when I read the article. No need to be harsh. Just add a line there saying “no details at the moment, we’ll update when we know more”.
And since when are u so official?

What a bunch of douchebags.

DOWN WITH APPLE!

Just trying to be friendly :)

[...] TechCrunch] Tags: Apple, htc, iPhone, iPhoneHellas.gr, lawsuit, [...]

[...] [via TechCrunch] [...]

Like most technologies, Apple was the only one who could bring it to market and make it attractive when Xerox couldn’t. Great engineers, poor consumer imagination. The same goes for multi-touch.

Almost everything is burrowed. I think stolen is a heavy word in the industry.

when did they “become” evil? i thought they were evil from the start. personally, i ‘m not a fan of apple’s products, but it’s true that htc and other companies are in some respects concentrating more on how to match apple’s designs [damn, even the rounded rectangle exterior] instead of innovating.

igniman has a point.

If the details are unknown, it would be helpful if that is stated in the article, like Engadget did:

“We’ll let you know the exact details as soon as we learn them.”

Also, nothing is more “snarky” than correcting other peoples’ grammar, in my humble opinion :)

Thanks.

If you haven’t seen the patents they’re suing over, why make such a lame over-generalization of why you think Apple is suing HTC?

Very professional.

Also, makes tons of sense that they would wait until now and only sue HTC if the problem they have is really just people making iPhone shaped touch screens. (Zune? Storm? And a plethora of others that have been selling for years.)

No, more likely is that HTC is finally catching up to some tech in the iPhone.

Some patents truly are inventions. Let’s see their cards.

Apple have good products that I can’t deny but maybe only due to the fact that they are incredibly controlling over what their users can and can’t do.

Like many have already said here (Bruce Wagner, phebs) they Apple have also borrowed technology invented by others. The fact that they are claiming the concept of a touchscreen phone as their idea is just ridiculous…what next!? Will they claim that any image of an apple is theirs too? …bunch of loons :)

to Apple’s credit:

No one ever laid eyes on a device design like the iPhone before it was launched.

Second, Mr. Jobs warned AT THE EVENT that “we have a group of patents for the iPhone and we plan to defend them vigorously”.

Now everything looks like the iPhone.

“Apple thinks it owns the concept of the touchscreen Web phone. ”

Of course they do. They invented the touch screen phone.

Like how they invented the Sun, and the wheel and Creative’s hierarchical menu structure, and trademarked the name iPhone before Cisco.

Oh wait.

More apple b.s. They keep referencing the OHA for all the patents they are using, but when its HTC I guess those open patents are not working. They will be the 2nd big retailer of smartphones in the next couple years and apple doesn’t want that.

Apple bought the Windows/Mouse interface from Xerox if I remember this correctly. Along with key researchers.

Everbody else then stole it from Apple.

Wow the google fanboys are really upset. Sorry but your favorite spyware company does steal most of all it’s ideas.

HTC was asking for it big time!

That’s it, Apple starts & someone steals its work & resell it just cheaper and become world richest guy years later.

stole*

“Rounded rectangle design”? How else should other companies do it? Sharp corners? Triangles?

Really, there’s an obvious way to do a lot of things that Apple wants to own just because they did it first.

Apple licensed the idea from Xerox and then enhanced it. Apple added drag-and-drop, resource forks, application names, pull-down menus, the clipboard, etc. etc.

People need to start educating themselves instead of mindlessly reciting Microsoft propaganda…

http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=On_Xerox,_Apple_and_Progress.txt

1st – everyone is using mouse now. That’s xerox fault that it wasn’t patented
2nd – windowed systems. They got idea (again xerox fault that they gave it almost for free) and did very good job in this direction. W7 users have to thanks apple for lots of features (to be honest it is vise versa, they “borrow” some ideas from windows long time ago)
3rd – FreeBSD has a license which allows modification and commercial use. Nothing wrong with it. MacOS X is really far from what FreeBSD offers home users.

“Small businesses” broke license policy. We passed “clones times” in Mac OS classic times and we knows that is isn’t good way. And it is Apple’s right to forbid that.
You know price for Snow Leo, and I’m pretty sure it is subsidized from mac sales. In other words they don’t have much profit from selling software, they make software to sell their hardware.
That is apple’s choice how to distribute their own OS. So IMHO it’s enough moral and ethical.

If I’ll start to sell OEM versions of Windows I’ll be thief, if somebody starts do same with MacOS X – they’re “small business”. Well done! Very fair speech.

You have no idea what the patents are, why are you claiming they stole it. This is most probably a back fire from apple accusing all other handset producers.

Finally!!!! I don’t know what the hell took them so long, but I’m glad to see they’re finally defending their patents on the iPhone!!

@ Jay

I was about to fryyyyy you for saying Apple created the touch screen phone… until I read the entire comment! LOL It’s funny, Apple and its loyal cult members believe they invented plenty of things that they haven’t – and many doo believe that Apple created The touch screen phone // WRONG! Palm did, waaay back when they had the phone-less PDAs (Pilots). Yes, Apple has been very, very innovative, LOOOVE that mighty mouse, want one…. but they too have stolen some technology. Soooo, either play it completely straight or STFU.

//endofstory

Guess he forgot about http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW0DUg63lqU

All this talk about seeing patents and so forth:

Apple INVENTED the iPhone and the GUI it uses.

That’s it period. Mr. Jobs warned everyone at the iPhone launch event that Apple would protect the iPhone with patents.

Kudos for Microsoft creating Windows Mobile 7, a true new design.

Everything else looks like a fake iPhone.

Copying the rounded exterior design and touchscreen interface — neither are new — is not a matter of it being simpler to copy than to create. It’s a matter of the NATURE of form follows function. It’s like a sculptor slowly revealing what is innate — what FORM will work best for humans.

IP (“intellectual property”) Law has done more harm to humanity than any other greed-based law. The IP philosophy results in new, better, more efficient, greater, technologies being WITHHELD from benefitting mankind…. in favor of benefitting only ONE entity instead. Whether through poor consumer design, unreasonable pricing, management incompetence, or simply intentionally buying a patent to SIT ON IT…. so as to eliminate competition and/or milking old inventions for all the profits they can get out of them… while DEPRIVING MANKIND of all benefits.

I thank God that IP is dying a fast death.

Ask any 60 year old where records (music) came from.

Ask any 20 year old where music, movies, TV, audiobooks, eBooks come from.

Modern sophisticated desktop operating systems of the future, like Ubuntu, come with BitTorrent technology built-in. ……for the benefit of ALL mankind.

Sounds drastic, I know. But it’s true. IP will die. And we will all be able celebrate its death.

Enforcing patents for obvious choices at choke points in product design stifles innovation, it doesn’t encourage it. Innovation comes from a healthy, competitive marketplace.

Without knowing what those disputed patents are, the famous UI of the iPhone with all those gestures seem obvious in hindsight – but actually no one pulled it off before, and I know that a lot of research and effort go into such things.

Frankly, I do not see the point in HTC or anyone else just skipping the entire research and just copy instead.

Touch screens have been around for a lot longer than the iphone. just cause they made it small and strapped a battery to it doesn’t make it theirs. its the natural evolution of our technology… smaller and wireless.

Really Robin? You’re the supposed “professional journalist”…he’s some person in the comments section (and a reader). And, yes, your article was a little lacking in content. Plus, have you read any of your fellow TC posts lately? Grammar, spelling, and proofreading aren’t really the staff’s forte…so calling out the use of “u” is a bit ridiculous.

[...] http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/02/apple-goes-after-htc-in-lawsuit-over-20-iphone-patents/ [...]

come on we all know Steve is Evil. So the touch screens before iphone were…. just not apple and useless? I cannot wait to hear what the infringements are. Of course some of the recent patents awarded are kind of crazy so who knows where this will go :-)

Patents on the combustion engine, yes, patents on the theory of relativity, absolutely, but patenting the way someone touches a phone, give me a break. Apple is obnoxious.

Well wouldn’t you want the person/company that is the target of your suing to have something to give in return once you win your case? I mean, when have you heard of someone/someplace poor getting sued? (In no way am I saying Apple will win, just an example).

Just to let some of you folks know. Apple did not R&D the touch screen and gestures, that was first developed by an independent developer who eventually sold rights to Apple. Apple just ‘improved’ upon it, and now they have their panties in a bunch because others are coming up with just as nice touch screen technology. Again, I say unto you, Apple is obnoxious.

Steve Jobs is PMS-ing because the iPad got a lackluster reception, the iPhone is stagnant, the App store is a tangled mess, and people have moved on to better innovation elsewhere.

Sad, sad little man. Sad, sad company.

CORRECTION: Even the Apple logo and name were stollen by Apple…. according to litigation initiated by the Apple record label. Remember the Beatles record label, Apple Records, with THE IDENTICAL LOGO…?

Apple has a long long history of……. consistency, with regard to “borrowing” other people’s stuff…. from Day One through Today.

I like how you automatically assume he’s pro-Microsoft because he’s attacking Apple. You mad?

I noticed that the mods comments on techcrunch posts are no longer highlighted green, but that the crunchgear based posts still have orange highlighted mod comments. is this a bug, or intentional?

I like seeing the mods identified.

If TC don´t know the details of the suit how can they come with a statement like “Apple thinks it owns the concept of the touchscreen Web phone and it wants other cell phone makers to pay for copying the iPhone or to stop altogether.”?

It’s either a very juvenile statement or fuel for the flamewar.
TC should be above this.

HTC had several devices that the iPhone could have said to replicate for years prior to the iphone’s release (i.e. the HTC Apache, a full two years prior to the iPhone).
They didn’t work nearly as well, but they have the same ‘candybar’ layout and touch screen interface that apple has since ripped off from them.

Um, sorry Apple…I had one of these in 2003!

http://www.kyocera-wireless.com/7135-smartphone/

How similar was the 1st gen iPod to contemporary MP3 players.

They may have added the scroll-wheel, but the essential user interface (moving up and down lists, selecting songs) and form factor (small screen, cigarette box) was close, I’m guessing, to products on the market at the time.

I had a Keocera (sp?) smart phone in 2001 – phone and web browsing and palm O/S and – yes – a touchscreen.

I’d like to know which patents Apple is referring to. If it is something frivolous I will loose that much more respect for the company. Who knows it could be something serious. Either way, I urge people to question Apple’s infallibility.

That said, latest HTC Android powered phones and iPhone 3GS are very different from user/experience point of view. They are not carbon copies of each other. HTCs are more communication/info centric vs. iPhone application centric UI. I actually prefer HTC approach on people/communication as opposed to Apple’s.

They are probably suing HTC over the patents they stole from Nokia :-P

Here’s the puppy:

http://www.kyocera-wireless.com/qcp-6035-smartphone/

Saw this coming..

Regardless of actual merits in the patent fight, the sole act of resorting to litigation smacks of desperation on Apple’s part, as it always does with tech companies.

It suggests that they don’t know how to improve the web-phone concept in the short term. If they were getting ready to launch “iPhone 2.0, with New Revolutionary Features Hipsters Must Have”, they wouldn’t care about cheap clones of their previous concept.

Instead, they try to exploit flimsy, artificial monopolies to milk the old cash cow a little longer, and they are scared as hell that competitors are catching up faster than they thought. Apple’s own history should have taught them that this sort of strategy usually doesn’t end well.

=== popurls.com === popular today…

yeah! this story has entered the popular today section on popurls.com…

Whilst I can’t believe Apple is doing this I think the fault lies with the US Patent office being too eager to approve something and issue a patent on an idea that clearly has “prior art”.

Almost all these patent disputes that hit the web now-a-days are based on ideas that 50% of the time a patent should never have been issued for. But the patent is issued and the patent owner just tries to make as much easy cash as possible by going after anyone they think is vaguely a competitor.

I say (a) sort out the US patent office and (b) get the anti-competition commission in to have a long hard look at Apple. Surely selling something that forces you into using other products/services from the same company breaks some law somewhere?

[...] techcrunch 37.930883 23.637790 Ετικέτες: Apple, HTC, Tech [...]

[...] Πηγή: techcrunch [...]

Exactly my thought; the Apple reality-distortion field remains strong.

The Apple suit v. Nokia was their “countersuit” to a fairly broad Nokia lawsuit against Apple.

This is all the typical double-standard in reporting when it comes to Apple.

When Nokia sued them, general press and comments were all about “how Nokia is a flailing competitor who can’t compete who is turning to the courts”

When Apple sues HTC, it is instead “enforcing its IP”

And what must take the world prize for spin, the Nokia suit somehow gets turned into a pro-Apple comment…wow, impressive.

Apple owns the idea of list scrolling!?

I agree. Do we have to read 16 pages of legal shite to get the simple message that this post is trying to convey.
TC so which patents (and im not refering to their numbers) as Apple pissed about?

Apple are just patent trolls and IP thieves.

Open source legal advice – what a concept. Here is my 2 cents: Develop your product using whatever means required. Sell it. Make lots of money. Problems, off to court we owe. Yes, owe, owe, owe. We owe it to ourselves to waste time with IP suits. Feed the grinding wheels of justice. Be careful not to get stuck in the grinder.

Interesting timing, as the Nexus One’s release on Verizon appears imminent. Apple trying to prevent Google’s incursion on potential Verizon marketshare in advance of a summer Verizon iphone release? Of course the stakes are higher than Verizon — but one wonders how much of Apple’s strategy is influenced by Google’s open, non-carrier based model. It will be interesting to see how substantive the patent infringement claims really are.

[...] En: Engadget En Español,  Blog De Apple y TechCrunch Compartelo [...]

Why the hatred?

TC is not above this. Its still trying to get it’s users to use “u” in a correct manner. Right after that they will try to get to what you are saying.

By definition, enforcing patents doesn’t stifle innovation – if it was an ‘innovation’ (i.e. new and innovative) it wouldn’t be covered by someone else’s patent! Doh!

He could be a Google fanboy for all I know, but you dogmatic zealots can’t even develop a new criticism except to repeat the ones the Microsoft’s fanboys developed decades ago.

@Dug

How easy it is to give other’s property away. I dare you to give me your property.

BitTorrent…for ALL mankind! Yay for this magical BitTorrent which has the power to create music and movies out of nothing! All hail BitTorrent.

Enforcing patents stifles innovation if the innovations in question require a framework which is controlled by prior patents for obvious choices.

[...] writes “Taiwanese HTC is being sued by Apple for 20 patents regarding the many phones HTC manufactures. Steve Jobs was quoted as saying, [...]

Information and knowledge are to be shared… to benefit all mankind.

The Digital Age is replacing the Age of Copyright. Like it or not…. Adapt, or be left in the dust.

+1 more reason to make awesome new android shells

Yeah, for example if Palm enforced their patents this well, the iPhone never would have been made, since significant elements of it are “copied” from Palm.

It wasn’t my article. Ahem.

That should be ‘its’ users.

[...] Read on… [...]

No, truth be told, everything (including the iPhone) looks like an updated Palm.

[...] Apple Goes After HTC In Lawsuit Over 20 iPhone Patents [...]

Can we get back to the subject of the article and stop sniping the reporting?

Why is Apple going after HTC for (from what I can tell) software patents? Didn’t Google develop/borrow most of the software that runs on the HTC Android phones? Shouldn’t they be going after Google?

Macs are inferior to PCs.

Not true. Consider the hypothetical: Someone is successful in patenting the concept of a cursor. Suddenly, it is impermissible to use a cursor in any other software. New innovations that would use this element are thus made illegal if not developed under the watchful eye of the patent holder.

You are claiming that something cannot be innovative unless every element of it is unique. This is antithetical to the sum of computer engineering.

Go to Google. Do a patent search (they have a specialized search for that) with Assignee Apple and subjects such as
multitouch
phone

You will get the idea of what sorts of claims can be made rather quickly.

All the Tablet PC makers out there should sue Apple, in that case, for inventing the iPad. And Amazon should sue Apple because of their iBookstore service. Hope whoever holds the patent on mobile PDA devices with cameras stops Apple from bringing this to market too.

Bottom line, they shouldn’t be able to patent this stuff. While the iPhone interface certainly is an evolutionary leap forward, it’s ridiculous for a company like Apple to try to corner the market via a patent battle instead of by producing the highest-quality consumer products.

The Nexus One is not even multi-touch. I don’t see it as a particularly able competitor at this time. A slick little phone to be sure. But not that serious competition.

you are mistaken. pull down menus and the clipboard existed @ PARC. along with a whole bunch of stuff that Apple plasters all over the place as theirs. get your facts straight. 50% of today’s computing has been invented @ IBM, Bell Labs, Parc, SGI, HP and Sun.
yes, Apple (and Woz himself) came up with a lot of inventions, but I’m tired of seeing ignorant 20yo fanboys that werent even born back then cheering about Apple’s innovation and everyone else’s “me-too” strategies. Even Microsoft has some great inventions believe it or not. And I’ve left out all the great inventors from Europe and Asia

for example the concept of graphics acceleration belongs to Evans & Sutherland, Quantel, SGI and the late Jay miner (Amiga creator).
However, I still remember Jobs busting everyone’s balls with how innovative Quartz was back in the day. Apple does NOT invent 80% of their stuff. they are just very good at packaging other peoples (open source) work and SELLING IT to n00bs.

AND THATS A RECORDED FACT

OSX = FreeBSD + Cool UI = innovation my butt

I think the folks in sci-fi media have been missing a trick here….. I suggest that each book or script comes with a patent filing at the end of it… Star Trek, 2001, Blade Runner – they’d have done well to patent their ideas ….

Thats BS. I have created a UI very similar to iPhone’s back in 2003 for an app running inside an embeded system (like a bank ATM). I never thought to get a copyright because I am not that stuckup like a stupid conglomerate with a bunch of lawyers. This does not meant that I or someone else from the open source community will sue Apple for claiming they own UI intelectual property. these people are totally stupid. if we end up copyrighting user interfaces, 99% of the web and desktop software will be illegal. This is how stupid Apple (and others) are in SOME cases.

you guys are all acting like 7 year old girls.

‘Strict IP Policy’?

You mean how they ‘aquired’ the user interface for their ipods from Creative Technologies without asking.

I suppose that if they had bothered to ‘innovate’ themselves they wouldn’t be where they are now, so maybe Apple is just another case of ‘do as I say, not as I do’.

‘but the essential user interface (moving up and down lists, selecting songs) was close, I’m guessing, to products on the market at the time.’

Very close, Creative Technologies sued them and won over that very matter

I guess apple must really be feeling the pressure from android otherwise they wouldn’t have done this. I don’t think htc really needs to export to US they can make plenty elsewhere, like China and Europe.

Apple is a sh*t company that gouges consumer on price. Apple will never be able to compete as long as they keep use their software to sell ridiculously overpriced hardware. It’s why Microsoft continues to stomp their ass. It why HTC is taking a bite out of their pie. People are onto Apple’s scam.

I think the clue was in the words ‘The lawsuit itself is not available yet online. We’ve asked Apple for a copy.’

[...] TechCrunch « Publishers justify $13-$15 e-book prices for Apple iPad Tags: Apple, HTC You [...]

[...] » noticia original [...]

Kudos to Apple, they finally decided to put their feet down. I knew there was a reason why all the newer SmartPhones had a similar look and feel. At the time I really couldn’t put a finger on it…but now it’s dawned on me… =) j/p

Apple is running scared

But I thought Steve himself invented cellphones, and computers, and bytes, and bits, and silicon, and logic….

Oh that’s right, he just patented it all.

I think Apple is very right in this one. If there’s gonna be good competition, it’s gotta be fair. I’m 100% behind them.

Actually gesture based control of capacitve screen interface was pioneered by Geoff Han at NYU in the early 2000′s (Check out his company Perceptive Pixel for video of a 2006 demo). Apple apparently tried to hire him and his team but he declined.
Both Microsoft and apple produced derivatives such as the iPhone and MS Surface utilising the technology in different ways.

The issue comes with Apple claiming that ‘Pinch Zoom’ and similar gestures are their invention when they are just a natural ergonomic consequence of using a capacitive interface one-handed on a small screen.

The underlying technology is no different on a 22″ MS Surface or a 4″ iPhone.

And HTC ahve been in the phone business making phones for 10years ((both for themselves and OEM for the likes of Sony and i-mate) and specifically touch screen web-enabled smartphones for at least a couple of years longer than Apple.

Should also be “It’s still trying…”

The best option is to create an object that works via mind control. There’s no reason for all this swiping and poking and sliding. Get with it HTC.

I guess Mr Jobs is getting a little nervous about those Android platform growth curves. Getting flashes of losing the PC vc Mac war all over again?

Those who can’t compete sue.

Copyright ≠ Patent

“Apple thinks it owns the concept of the touchscreen Web phone.”

What nonsense. Smartphones with touchscreens and web browsers clearly predate the iPhone by many years — I helped develop one myself — so of course Apple doesn’t believe they own the concept of the smartphone or any variation thereof.

What’s clear is that Apple thinks it owns a specific set of hardware and software innovations, multitouch user interfaces among them, that apply to both phones and other devices. Some of these innovations were probably patented by Fingerworks, acquired by Apple, while others by Apple themselves.

Please keep in mind that — at least here in the U.S. — we honor first-to-invent. Apple, you may remember, was an early innovator in this field, co-founding ARM in 1990 and introducing the first touchscreen PDA in 1993, the direct ancestor of today’s smartphones. They are also known to have been secretly working on other portable computing devices for over a decade. In addition, Fingerworks began work on multitouch in 1998. There’s good reason to think that Apple may have a large number of valid (in every sense of the word) patents related to portable devices.

Nor is there any question that the iPhone was a stunning technological leap forward for its time, as evidenced if nothing else by the fact that Apple’s leading competitors are still scrambling to create something equivalent 3 years later. The idea that Apple didn’t introduce patent-worthy innovations in the iPhone, or that those innovations should be protected, is nonsense.

In short, Apple is using patents the way they are intended to be used: to encourage significant technological advancement by profiting those willing to invest in making those advances. Apple has a number of options to by which it can profit: it may choose to do this by forcing the competition to redesign their products, by forcing them to license Apple’s patents, or by cross-licensing IP that Apple wants. If Apple’s patents prove to be legit, it’s competitors can also choose to do what competitors have always done; innovate smartphones that don’t conflict with Apple’s patents.

[...] 2010, under General While I’m sure the details will wash through over time, this story about Apple suing phone manufacturer HTC for Patent infringement really, really [...]

You guys are all such little snarky little bitches. Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were all 13 year old girls…

But it sure is cute to see you all arguing over such menial details.

[...] Apple Goes After HTC In Lawsuit Over 20 iPhone Patents - TechCrunch [...]

My HTC phone looks nothing like an iPhone. I’ve held the two up side-by-side, and really they don’t.

HTC did not skip reserach. They used Google’s platform. That’s like saying HP didn’t do research when they put Windows on one of their computers.

Apple went after HTC because they think they’ll be able to sink more money into a lawsuit than HTC will. They should have gone after Google, but they’re probably more afraid of Google than HTC.

Apple has specific patents that do not cover every multitouch gesture or every phone possibility.

Apple wants its competitors to either come up with an alternative or license its IP.

These lawsuits usually end in a deal for licensing the IP.

This will increase Apple’s profits. It will get a piece of HTC’s profits.

Since Google gives away Android, there is no economic benefit from suing Google. There is a profit to be made from suing HTC – which through Google, is using Apple IP.

It remains to be seen if Google indemnifies those who use Android. Probably not.

Note that Linux developers love people telling it what specific IP Linux may be breaking so that they can develop work-arounds to it. This way, Linux is free of legal encumbrances.

The same thing cannot be said about Android – which has proprietary additions to Linux. These proprietary additions expose those who manufacture products using Android to IP lawsuits.

Wrong!

Apple put out the Newton Message pad in 1993

We should just abolish all patents.
…And btw, limit copyright to 2-3 years.

Apple tough Newton Message 1993

Yes. In related news, Elvis did not invent Rock and Roll. He just found a way to sell it. HINT: Sex

Wow, that’s so professional.

[...] Delaware, and another with the U.S. International Trade Commission, covering a total of 20 patents. As TechCrunch points out, the trade commission doesn’t award damages, it only stops imports. So this is no typical [...]

Doesn’t anyone remember the patents that were filed by apple a year before they revealed the iPhone? Multi-touch, Gesturing, etc… NO other phone on the market was anywhere near the iPhone. They deserve to enforce their patents, especially when companys like Palm brag about how their phones can “run multiple” apps, when it’s nothing more than webapps. Until the iPhone came along, I hated browsing the web on my various HTC phones. And I hated apple. Now, I love my iPhone and thing every other manufacturer should be forced to innovate or lose. They can’t just steal someone else’s(better) ideas, come up with bogus marketing claims, and profit after years of sucking. Sorry.

Actualy that’s not true. They came to XEROX and kindly ask them if they can buy UI technology for the personal computers. Since management at XEROX had no idea what to do with that stuff they were actually happy to earn some bucks with it.

So that’s not a robbery… it’s simply shopping for something no-one knew what to do with it and apple found innovative way to make useful product for consumers. That’s called innovation!

[...] Read some-more on TechCrunch [...]

i totally agree with Steve Jobs PEOPLE SHOULD USE THERE OWN IDEAS Just like the GUI AND MOUSE i think steve forgot where they goit

Wrong… I have prior art: http://www.monomorphology.com/images/port004.jpg

“We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”

This is such an uninformed stance. All of history’s innovations are built on the so-called shoulders of a predecessor. There are very few, if any, completely radical ideas that exist or have existed. The very technology that Apple developed was aided because of the efforts of previous innovators; for apple to even suggest that they developed the iPhone as a product isolated from any outside influence or inspiration is absurd, which is what they imply by taking legal action.

How many variations of a wheel can exist, and moreover, who would feel justified in perpetually reinventing it? Jobs, I hope you lose these cases.

agreed, how can you patent a tech that you never developed. I have never seen an Apple Capacitive Touch Screen.

They buy them in with firmware installed and then they slap an OS on top, then patent it.

Then again I suppose it is easy to convince someone that is not tech savvy like a bureaucratic patents board that it’s all your own tech.

HTC have used different suppiers for the screen with different firmware and a different OS on top of it all (infact 2 different OS’s).

Tell you what I will use my thumb and my middle finger to scale an image and I will use my middle finger to scroll (making sure I follow through when I see an iPhone users stride by) that’s an entirely different gesture.

[...] Entérate de más aquí. [...]

[...] with iPhone patents and it’s decidedly less cryptic and full of make-believe than the bible. techcrunch.com — Apple is using its strong patent portfolio to fight iPhone competitors in court. Its latest [...]

[...] Apple is getting scared and tries to go after Android. It launches a proxy war vs HTC with their software patents in the US. That’s a pretty unpopular move there and if there were any sympathies left for Apple, they are gone now. [...]

Newton invented The Apple, or did he discover it?

[...] Apple Goes After HTC In Lawsuit Over 20 iPhone Patents [...]

Once we go beyond the ‘Apple’ fanboyism and actually look through the petition, Apple can potentially target anyone and everyone with the above patents!

E.g. ‘Object-Oriented Event Notification System with Listener Registration!’ Sounds like a generic design pattern to me! Any decent developer worth their salt would use proven design-patterns in application/architecture development. Geez…

[...] you’ve undoubtedly heard by now, Apple has filed a lawsuit against device-maker HTC over 20 patents they control. Seeing as the suit is between Apple and HTC, [...]

If HTC needs support, I will give money to HTC. This time, HTC must fight against Apple. I wish success for HTC. Apple does not know who apple is.

[...] you’ve undoubtedly heard by now, Apple has filed a lawsuit against device-maker HTC over 20 patents they control. As you might imagine, Google has something [...]

I usually lurk and just read the articles/comments, but I felt compelled to add a comment given the irony of Robin’s grammatical mistake in his very own attack on igniman’s grammatical aptitude.

“PS: “u” should be you, unless you’re a teenage girl sending us a text message?”

Drop the question mark. Your PS is not intended to be a question nor was it phrased as a question.

[...] http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/02/apple-goes-after-htc-in-lawsuit-over-20-iphone-patents/ Tags: apple, HTC, htc corp, iPhone « Windows Mobile 6.5 not upgradable to Windows Phone 7 [...]

Google has lots of patents in online advertisement space including the latest granted patent about geo-location advertising. Is Apple setting up a table for bargaining with Google about its online Advertisement patents by trying to influence HTC?

“developer who eventually sold the rights to Apple”

If they sold the rights to Apple doesn’t that make Apple the rights holder who can require anyone else who wants to use it to have to pay? Why would anyone buy “rights” to technology that anyone is free to use?

If I buy Mac OS X for some unknown reason, I should be able to install in on other hardware not made by Apple. Look at Apple d!cking around with Atom support. They want you to buy their over priced hardware.

Those companies sold hardware that would work with Mac OS X, and the ones I saw wanted to buy a licensed copy. That’s different than being pirate captain Alexey.

[...] you’ve undoubtedly heard by now, Apple has filed a lawsuit against device-maker HTC over 20 patents they control. As you might imagine, Google has something [...]

Here is a gesture for Apple: Just a Middle Finger. WAIT! Maybe I should patent it….

My next phone will be HTC.

[...] we’ve seen Chile shaken to the ground, so much so that the days may be shorter. Seriously. Apple is laying down the law, slamming HTC with some patent lawsuits – but, I mean, the days aren’t getting any [...]

Crackpot

[...] すでにみんな知ってると思うが、Appleは同社が持つ20あまりの特許をめぐってデバイスメーカーのHTCを訴訟した。そしてみんなの期待どおりに、Googleがそれに反応した。 [...]

[...] Originating source: TechCrunch [...]

The mouse was patented, but not by Xerox because they didn’t invent it. Douglas Engelbart invented the mouse and applied for the patent in 1967 (granted 1970). Apple licensed the patent for the small fee of $40,000.

Read about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Engelbart

See the first mouse being used in this 1968 video:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7772376.stm

I myself first used a mouse in the early 1980s on an 8-bit Acorn BBC Micro.
http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/8bit_Upgrades/AMX_Mouse.html

These systems were commonly called WIMP environments (Window, Icon, Menu, Pointer) in those days.

I have owned a Korg Trinity professional music workstation with touchscreen since the mid 90s, it was and still is great. I am surprised it took so long for touchscreens to become popular in consumer devices.

“here in the U.S. — we honor first-to-invent. Apple, you may remember, was an early innovator in this field, co-founding ARM in 1990″

ARM architecture was created by the British computer company Acorn in 1983. It was used in the BBC and Archimedes series of computers. ARM was short for Acorn RISC Machine. Apple helped on version 6 of the ARM architecture which was when Acorn started a new company called Advanced RISC Machines Ltd in 1990.

[...] you’ve undoubtedly heard by now, Apple has filed a lawsuit against device-maker HTC over 20 patents they control. As you might imagine, Google has something [...]

@ hnb I have never heard some one talk so much sense on an internet comments page, the only reason jobbs is suing htc is because he is soiling his underwear over the storm that is the anroid software. Android all the way!

Posted from g1

Although its necessary to be able to protect the ppl that invest time and money in R&D, its mind boggling to see patents for such ridiculously things.
HTC will be a major player in smart-phones market and Apple cant accept that. Screw American market if they back Apple.

Apple has such an “innovative” engineering team that they forgot to have a CLR (delete) button in the iPhone, so every time one needs to delete the text after the cursor, they have to move further and then hit the backspace. That’s how DUMB these people are! And they have the nerve to talk about revolutionary UIs !!! We now live on a planet where corporate stupidity is considered evolution. Their days are numbered though.

[...] Linux, not just threatening to sue. Android is targeted by this new lawsuit which names 20 patents, some of them software patents. Apple is using its strong patent portfolio to fight iPhone competitors in court. Its latest [...]

[...] verklagt Hardware-Hersteller HTC wegen Patentverletzungen. “We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about [...]

This is an indefensible move by Apple to stifle innovation in a market they feel they are entitled to. They didn’t invent the idea of having a phone with rounded corners or that you might use two fingers to operate.

Apple is approaching a crossroads with the iPhone. If this is how they intend to protect their market share, I wouldn’t bet that they have any fantastic new ideas for the iPhone in the pipeline.

I surrender to all anonymous commenters. You are too powerful for me. You rulez kthxbai!

[...] has filed suit against cell phone manufacturer HTC for patent infringement. While the lawsuit names HTC, the [...]

[...] Apple Goes After HTC In Lawsuit Over 20 iPhone Patents - TechCrunch [...]

But Jobs is totally ok with stealing! What a flip flopper …

Writing this on my MacBook Pro, I think when Apple spends time trying to enforce ambiguous patents instead of innovating, it’s a sign of Apple in decline. No one builds gadgets as slick as Apple, but suing legitimate competitors over how you swipe your finger is ridiculous. This feels a lot like the Apple II vs. MS-DOS fight three decades ago. C’mon Apple, you’re are FINALLY gaining back a little bit of the pc marketshare you lost back then, don’t do this again only to have the rest of the world (i.e. Android) blow by you in smartphones. Learn from your past, don’t live in it.

[...] today, Apple issued a press release stating that it has filed suit against cell phone manufacturer HTC for patent infringement. No mention of Android or Google was in [...]

[...] full post on MobileCrunch Share and [...]

Did Apple really think that they can control all these things through a patent? Maybe yes… because that is the best they got already so let the lawsuits begin!

[...] other day Apple announced that it is suing HTC for infringing several patents related to the iPhone, including patents on the UI, i.e., software [...]

Can you really take patent on “Unlocking a Device by Performing Gestures on an Unlock Image” ?

This is really stupid. Whats next? Patent “starting an mobile device with powerbutton” “make gesture with mouse” ..?

[...] new legal action follows a similar lawsuit that Apple filed against rival phone maker HTC for allegedly violating 20 of Apple’s mobile phone [...]

What kind of guy is named Robin? The only one I can think of is Robin Hood. Bet they both wear pantyhose.

Authorities say Apple has sued HTC, accusing their biggest rival of violating patents relating to the iphone. Apparently many features loved about the HTC (or android) were originally taken from iphone software. Actually Samsung is in turn suing Apple for other technologies. I think these companies are abusing the way we are supposed to use patent laws. Such a “dog eat dog world”. In the end they will all lose, either money or reputation. But I guess I would also be pretty upset if a company stole my inventions and said they were theirs. I got some facts here. http://ketiva.com/Computers_and_Internet/apple_fights_htc.html

In the case of Apple, if the FILING DATE of Apple’s patent predates any “KNOWN” publication, patent, patent publication and the “CLAIMS” (you should check the FULL CLAIMS before arguing anything) are novel, then Apple is rightfully granted a patent.

And a patent isn’t what everybody fantasizes it to be. As long as the CLAIMS (NOT an abstract idea, algorithm, natural phenomenon, etc.) predate any other known patent/invention/publication and is not an obvious variation of said teachings (patent, publication, etc.), then anybody can be granted a patent.

[...] HTC for any Android related claim – if you don’t know what I’m talking about, see here. I haven’t looked at any of the patents in question but I imagine a number of them are tied [...]

[...] Read more on TechCrunch [...]

[...] Crunch: Apple Goes After HTC In Lawsuit Over 20 iPhone Patents Categories: Entertainment, Government, Politics, Reference Comments (0) Trackbacks (0) [...]

[...] La EFF, Electronic Frontier Foundation, ha reso pubblica la licenza che chi vuole sviluppare applicazioni per iPhone deve accettare. Interessanti sono alcuni punti fondamentali che, a mio avviso, rendono impossibile accettare questa licenza. Per prima cosa non è possibile rendere pubblica tale licenza (la EFF l’ha ottenuta e pubblicata attraverso altre vie), Apple si riserva in ogni momento di cancellare qualsiasi applicazione dal proprio store senza preavviso e senza alcun motivo e inoltre non è possibile creare alcun tipo di applicazione o programma che sia in grado di modificare in alcun modo le soluzioni di sicurezza, firme digitali, DRM o meccanismi di verifica o autenticazione implementati nei sistemi operativi del iPhone e gli altri dispositivi Apple. Se fossi uno sviluppatore che volesse cimentarsi nella creazione e distribuzione di software per device mobili come gli smartphone ci penserei un centiaio di volte prima di accettare condizioni del genere e forse valuterei prima altre piattaforme. Insomma Apple non solo impone EULA anacronistiche ai propri utenti ma fa ancora peggio con gli sviluppatori che dovrebbero e potrebbero aumentare il proprio bacino di utenti. Se volete leggervi tutta la licenza vi rimando al link di EFF: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/03/iphone-developer-program-license-agreement-all. Segnalo inoltre che dopo la doppia accusa tra Nokia ed Apple per violazione d’uso di brevetti ora la mela ha deciso di attaccare HTC sempre per un problema di brevetti: http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/02/apple-goes-after-htc-in-lawsuit-over-20-iphone-patents/. [...]

I’d like to suggest a defense to patent trolls and frivolous patent lawsuits!

http://patenthitman.com/

[...] Schonfeld of TechCrunch think Apple is suing HTC for the same reason Nokia sued Apple: to get a cross-license on patents. [...]

[...] Big News this week is Apple Sues HTC .  We will discuss in depth later in the [...]

[...] like maybe not the smartest time to bring any more news that makes you guys seem like the most evil fucking [...]

[...] close relationship with Google’s Android OS caught the attention of Apple. Last month, Apple sued HTC alleging infringement of the former’s 20-odd patents relating to user interface and touch. [...]

[...] close relationship with Google’s Android OS caught the attention of Apple. Last month, Apple sued HTC alleging infringement of the former’s 20-odd patents relating to user interface and touch. [...]

[...] HTC’s close relationship with Google’s Android OS caught the attention of Apple. Last month, Apple sued HTC alleging infringement of the former’s 20-odd patents relating to user interface and touch. That [...]

[...] Google’s Android OS caught the attention of Apple. Last month, Apple sued HTC alleging infringement of the former’s 20-odd patents relating [...]

[...] the iPhone, iPad, and iPod in the United States”. The move comes in response to a suit Apple filed against HTC in March that listed over 20 patents HTC is allegedly violating with its Android [...]

[...] ongoing battle royale between HTC and Apple is likely to leave a few lumps on both sides before it gets called. One [...]

[...] is facing a serious patent infringement lawsuit from Apple covering 20 of its patents for touchscreen devices. Today, it finally responded with a vague press [...]

[...] is facing a serious patent infringement lawsuit from Apple covering 20 of its patents for touchscreen devices. Today, it finally responded with a vague press [...]

[...] of the iPhone, iPad, and iPod in the United States”. The move comes in response to a suit Apple filed against HTC in March that listed over 20 patents HTC is allegedly violating with its Android [...]

[...] earlier today that it is countersuing Apple for patent infringement in response to Apple’s earlier patent lawsuit, it failed to mention which patents it is using to fight back. Well, now we have the official [...]

[...] earlier today that it is countersuing Apple for patent infringement in response to Apple’s earlier patent lawsuit, it failed to mention which patents it is using to fight back. Well, now we have the official [...]

[...] is facing a serious patent infringement lawsuit from Apple covering 20 of its patents for touchscreen devices. Today, it finally responded with a vague press [...]

[...] the iPhone, iPad, and iPod in the United States”. The move comes in response to a suit Apple filed against HTC in March that listed over 20 patents HTC is allegedly violating with its Android [...]

I think we should entrust everything to the court accepted. because through the courts all evidence will be presented.

There better have really good reasons to this because the one thing they tell us in this article is there touch screen phones are their's and other companies must pay to copyright it or drop it. You got to be kidding me on this, knowing apple there copyrights are going to be expensive for the other companies and than they will drop it because everyone that has gotten or has a touch screen will find phones with no touch screens boreing and useless and than Iphone will have complete control of the cell phone market. But because of that the courts might not let Iphone get there way of things because than it will only just start to branch out, after other companies and become a monopoly.

Great Move by Steven Jobs! I wonder this lawsuit should go against of HTC because Apple rendering great service in E-Gadgets industry for so long

i guess so.

It is anyone’s guess which patents Apple is referring to. As soon as we can do an update on the story

I have always believed in patents, but I think that everything has gone too far.
They are patenting things really obvious and obtrusive. How small companies like mine are supposed to protect themselves from giant corporations like Apple, Google or HTC?