Apple wins big against HTC in a court ruling that could result in stopping imports of HTC’s Android phones in the United States. The International Trade Commission has decided that HTC had infringed Apple’s Patent #5,946,647 that includes a function that is very essential to smartphone technologies.
 |
| Photo courtesy of Inquisitr.com |
Fortune explained the said patent in a brief statement:
“When an iPhone receives a message that contains a phone number or an address -- e-mail, Web or street -- those bits of data are automatically highlighted, underlined and turned into clickable links.
Click on the phone number, and the iPhone asks if you want to dial it. Click on the Web address, and it opens in Safari. Click on the street address, and Maps will display it.”
The feature itself is very important to a smartphone, and when we say feature we mean the OS itself. So this could mean that Apple will be rooting for other android devices. The Ban will take into effect this April 19, 2012 on selected HTC phones. However, HTC will be allowed to import refurbished products for warranty purposes until December 19, 2013. These HTC Android devices are Sprint Evo 4G, Verizon Droid Incredible, AT&T Aria, and T-Mobile G2. But this is just the first step for Apple as it is expected to Ban all the HTC android phones.
However, HTC stressed in a bitter-sweet statement that this patent is just a “small UI experience” and that they would be very pleased to remove (or use the patent in different way).
“This decision is a win for HTC and we are gratified that the commission affirmed the judge's determination on the ‘721 and ‘983 patents, and reversed its decision on the ‘263 patent and partially on the ‘647 patent. We are very pleased with the determination and we respect it. However, the ‘647 patent is a small UI experience and HTC will completely remove it from all of our phones soon”
We think that this could be another Android-Apple battled that we have witnessed with Samsung-Apple injunction cases in Australia and some part of Europe. But what’s troubling with this stateside war is the impact on HTC sales in the US; considering that they are in fact, the leader last quarter.
