Apple og HTC i patent krig
Hvis man undrer sig over hvorfor Apple netop har valgt at sagsøge HTC, som er et af de mindste mobilproducenter, så kan du måske finde svaret hos John Paczkowski fra All Things Digital.
HTC ejer færrest patenter af de “etablerede” mobilproducenter og John Paczkowski mener det sætter dem i en prekær situation, i forhold til at forsvare sig mod Apple.
A Deutsche Bank analysis of yearly patent filings by Apple (AAPL), HTC and Google (GOOG) reveals that Apple is by far the leader and HTC the laggard. Over the past few years, Apple has amassed some 3,000 patents, HTC just 58.
“HTC has had comparatively few patent filings leading up to the introduction of the original iPhone in June 2007,” Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore explained in a note to clients this past weekend. “Specifically, HTC filed zero patents with the US Patent office between 2004 and 2007 while Apple filed 507 and Google filed 67 over the same period.”
Men ifølge patent ekspert Nilay Patel fra Engadget, har Apple’s patenter måske ikke noget at sige i det lange løb. Han udtaler følgende til John Paczkowski analyse:
“Hey, just caught your piece on HTC’s patent portfolio. It’s interesting, and I agree with your reasoning on why Apple chose HTC over, say, Motorola, which has 1000s of patents, but remember that Apple’s entire portfolio doesn’t really matter here–it only picked 20 to litigate, and it only has to win one claim. Similarly, HTC only has to find one of its 58 patents that the iPhone infringes, which isn’t necessarily impossible since HTC’s portfolio is probably entirely mobile-oriented. I’m sure HTC will countersue here–it’s basically standard practice in this type of suit. I’d also expect Google to be named sooner rather than later–there’s no way HTC’s contract with Google doesn’t have a rock-solid indemnification clause.”
Læs resten af John Paczkowski’s artikel hos All Things Digital
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