Apple loses court battle with HTC over 'slide to unlock' paten

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Apple has been defeated at the High Court by the Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC over a series of patent infringement claims, including around the iPhone’s "prize" slide-to-unlock patent.

Mr Justice Floyd dealt Apple an almost total defeat in the case, which concerned four iPhone patents.
Along with the slide-to-unlock mechanism, HTC challenged Apple’s patents on the iPhone’s groundbreaking multi-touch system. Both are “prize” patents in the American giant’s portfolio, according to intellectual property experts.

“One of the invalidated patents is Apple’s flagship ‘slide to unlock’ patent. Apple’s photo management patent was found not to be infringed.
"HTC is pleased with the ruling, which provides further confirmation that Apple’s claims against HTC are without merit.

“We remain disappointed that Apple continues to favour competition in the courtroom over competition in the marketplace.”

Apple declined to comment on the case but a spokesman said: "We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."



http://www.telegraph...ne-patents.html
 
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Issac

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I'm getting tired of all these court battles with Apple vs. the world. I so wish Microsoft would be ballsy enough to take on apple with the tablet design, you know the one floating around with Ms tablet, iPad and surface, and how "microsoft is ripping of apple".
I would be so happy if some court would make sure iPad was banned in europe (like several samsung tablets have been thanks to apple). Just to screw with them!
Hell I even want an iPad of my own, so I'm no hater... but I do hate their acting!
 

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Just when I start to get jaded the system appears to actually work. Granted this is Europe that does hold to some of the concepts underpinning patents (tests for non obvious and prior art actually being something that is done) and it did take going to court to smack them down but good news anyway.

Love Apple's statement as well.
 
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Jamstruth

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Nice to see a few of these vague and dumb patents shot down for the UK/EU area. I can hopefully live in safety that the Universal Search on my Nexus won't have to be nerfed due to an Apple suit.
 

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Hypocritical much, Apple? Your OS is based on UNIX, your Mac OS window scheme is based on Xerox's PARC interface, the original iPhone design was almost surely inspired by the LG Prada, the idea behind a keyboard-less phone stems from PocketPC's... and you're bickering over "slide to unlock"? Really? What a joke.
 
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triassic911

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Hypocritical much, Apple? Your OS is based on UNIX, your Mac OS window scheme is based on Xerox's PARC interface, the original iPhone design was almost surely inspired by the LG Prada, the idea behind a keyboard-less phone stems from PocketPC's... and you're bickering over "slide to unlock"? Really? What a joke.
My thoughts exactly. Apple is trying to forcibly get rid of it's competition.
 

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I'm not going to say that Apple's a bad hardware manufacturer - admittedly their specs are sometimes behind the times, but they make solid hardware none the less, made from quality materials with an OS that works smoothly, even if it used to lack certain features in the beginning - everything has a rocky start after all. With all that in mind, just like the HTC spokesperson said, they should duke it out on the marketplace rather than in courts because they have nothing to be ashamed of and they would be a leading manufacturer of electronics regardless of whether or not they'll be sueing everybody else.
 

Urza

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The problem with these threads is that readers don't understand that you can't apply the same kind of ethics to a corporation that you do on a personal level. The duty of a corporation is to provide the maximum financial restitution to it's members, and if traded, it's shareholders. This includes not only producing products for which to sell, but anything one can do to get a market advantage. This is not a problem derived from Apple. They just happen to at the moment have the most resources to throw at the legal system. I have no doubt that if HTC or Samsung were in the financial position Apple currently is, they would be just as active in pursuing litigation. It's basically a straight capital investment towards their market position. The problem is that there are legal systems on this planet which promote activity detrimental to the market (the US is notoriously bad here).

Whether or not HTC or any other company actually stole IP is almost completely irrelevant to the instigating party. What matters is that you can use your superior resources to tie up the opposition however you can. It's just smart business.

PS: This is a long-standing misconception, which doesn't really make any sense to me, but anyone who thinks that Apple dropped whatever design they had and completely rebuilt the iPhone in the four months before Macworld (less than a year before shipping the product), is completely insane.
 

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The problem with these threads is that readers don't understand that you can't apply the same kind of ethics to a corporation that you do on a personal level. The duty of a corporation is to provide the maximum financial restitution to it's members, and if traded, it's shareholders.
Keeping morality aside, there should be a limit to what you can patent. Nobody in the world patents things like "Slide to Unlock" - they're not even full-fledged pieces of software, it's just a feature of the OS. It's not substantial, it's not ground-breaking and it sure as hell isn't Apple's invention - it's a digitalized version of your everyday door bolt and the post above actually helped me realize that, I never noticed it before.
This includes not only producing products for which to sell, but anything one can do to get a market advantage. This is not a problem derived from Apple. They just happen to at the moment have the most resources to throw at the legal system.
They're stacking up lawsuits that *you* pay for, you should be upset that your tax money is being wasted on checking whether or not "Slide to Unlock" infringes any patents when it isn't even patent-worthy in the first place.
I have no doubt that if HTC or Samsung were in the financial position Apple currently is, they would be just as active in pursuing litigation. It's basically a straight capital investment towards their market position.
What makes you think that Samsung isn't? They're producing far more hardware than you can imagine, and not just complete machines but also base components. Hell, I wouldn't be suprised if Apple's buying some of their chips, and if I were in charge of Samsung, every single lawsuit like this would make me skyrocket the prices of, for example RAM chips, specifically for Apple. Because why not? They're pulling me from court to court, why should I bother supplying them with components and put more water on their mill?
The problem is that there are legal systems on this planet which promote activity detrimental to the market (the US is notoriously bad here).
Very true. This is the legacy of the past - the U.S was always the leading country when it comes to patents, but these laws need to change substantialy overtime. What used to be patentable in the yesterdays is just two sticks and a robe nowadays. Standards need to change.
Whether or not HTC or any other company actually stole IP is almost completely irrelevant to the instigating party. What matters is that you can use your superior resources to tie up the opposition however you can. It's just smart business.
Nobody says it isn't, but if someone feels uneasy with that kind of practices, one should not buy the products coming from the offending manufacturer - that's smart consumerism.
PS: This is a long-standing misconception, which doesn't really make any sense to me, but anyone who thinks that Apple dropped whatever design they had and completely rebuilt the iPhone in the four months before Macworld (less than a year before shipping the product), is completely insane.
Quite off-topic. :P
 
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Urza

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I think you missed what I was primarily trying to get across. It's not that the way our patent system works is how I think it should work, and in fact I pretty explicitly stated the opposite. My only point is that you can't really begrudge a corporation for using the laws the government gives it (well you can, but it's not very productive). We need patent reform, not Apple reform.

"What makes you think that Samsung isn't?"

First off, Samsung isn't what? Isn't throwing out bushels of lawsuits in order to staunch their competitors like Apple? Because that's what I was saying.

Samsung is an enormous conglomerate. It is not operated in the same way as a company such as Apple, which is more or less a single-entity. Even the divisions within the corporations that comprise the conglomerate have to bid against outside companies for components. Considering Apple's component purchases represent roughly 10% of Samsung Electronics' operating revenue, it doesn't seem particularly smart to jeopardize that, even if they actually had the ability to do so.

"Nobody says it isn't, but if someone feels uneasy with that kind of practices, one should not buy the products coming from the offending manufacturer - that's smart consumerism."

Purchasing what one considers an inferior product on the basis that their personal purchasing decision will have a tangible impact on the manufacturer is the opposite of being a smart consumer. No, that's only self-righteous idealism.
 

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I think you missed what I was primarily trying to get across. It's not that the way our patent system works is how I think it should work, and in fact I pretty explicitly stated the opposite. My only point is that you can't really begrudge a corporation for using the laws the government gives it (well you can, but it's not very productive). We need patent reform, not Apple reform.
You needn't forget that by doing what they're doing, any other company would lose customers simply because of bad publicity. Apple's expert marketing department is somehow keeping it in-check, but you are right. Technically they CAN do it. That said, it needs to change - both the law and the way Apple is using it, simply because it creates unfair grounds for its competition. I realize that what you're trying to say is that we shouldn't have hard feelings towards Apple since what they're doing is legal, but my point is exactly oposite to it - law isn't always fair and it's up to the consumer to decide what is and what isn't.

First off, Samsung isn't what? Isn't throwing out bushels of lawsuits in order to staunch their competitors like Apple? Because that's what I was saying.
From what you wrote I understood that Samsung wasn't in the financial position to afford petty lawsuit tsunamis, and they are, so that's what I meant. ;)

Samsung is an enormous conglomerate. It is not operated in the same way as a company such as Apple, which is more or less a single-entity. Even the divisions within the corporations that comprise the conglomerate have to bid against outside companies for components. Considering Apple's component purchases represent roughly 10% of Samsung Electronics' operating revenue, it doesn't seem particularly smart to jeopardize that, even if they actually had the ability to do so.
Unlike Apple, Samsung would stay afloat regardless of incredibly bad press - they have customers among the average folk and among the corporate alike - as you said, if one division will do worse, the other will counter-weigh it. They are very much in a position to state demands as much as Apple is, they just have different policies.

Purchasing what one considers an inferior product on the basis that their personal purchasing decision will have a tangible impact on the manufacturer is the opposite of "smart consumerism". No, that's self-righteous idealism.
Purchasing a factualy inferior product on the basis of false marketing and doing so againts your own conscience when you know that its manufacturer works againts the ethics you believe in just because "everybody buys them" is being a slave of advertisements and keeling over to peer pressure. Being true to what you believe in and buying products that you want to support is perfectly normal, not idealistic. If company XYZ made the best laptops on the planet, far surpassing anything else both specs-wise and price-wise, but they were known for grinding newborn baby seals into a paste to use in their paints, you still probably wouldn't buy their products, just because you don't agree with that kind of practices. Nowadays the focus of attention goes far beyond the product, Urza.
 
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Urza

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You overestimate how many people are aware of these lawsuits, let alone how many actually care. This is no oil spill, no asbestos in the workers' lungs, no "grinding newborn baby seals into paste". This is yet another lawsuit in the unending sea of lawsuits that basically nobody really gives a shit about until an embargo comes into play and is directly impacting their ability to purchase products. Even then, it's really only the tech enthusiasts like ourselves who actually give a damn. My [hypothetical] dad isn't going to walk into the Verizon store with a broken phone asking where the Galaxy Nexus is, then storming away without a device. He'll pick the next roughly equivalent handset and be on his merry way.

"Unlike Apple, Samsung would stay afloat regardless of incredibly bad press - they have customers among the average folk and among the corporate alike - as you said, if one division will do worse, the other will counter-weigh it. They are very much in a position to state demands as much as Apple is, they just have different policies."

That is definitely not what I said. They are operated as separate companies. If one division is doing poorly, another will not automatically come in with a subsidy and save them. People will just be fired and there will be a restructuring, as is the case when any other company is floundering.

"Purchasing a factualy inferior product on the basis of false marketing and doing so againts your own conscience when you know that its manufacturer works againts the ethics you believe in just because "everybody buys them" is being a slave of advertisements and keeling over to peer pressure. Being true to what you believe in and buying products that you want to support is perfectly normal, not idealistic."

I wasn't trying to imply that the iPhone was the superior product in my hypothetical, which is neither here nor there in this discussion, so no reason to start up the ad hominem engine. If you have two products, and your thought is that one of those products is the "factually superior" one, yet you choose the other because your conscience precludes you from supporting a litigious corporation, that is a decision based on your own idealism. Maybe using the "better" product would make you feel bad, thus making it the worst choice for you. That is still a decision based on your own ideals rather than the tangible evidence, and thus an idealistic decision.
 

Urza

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Nobody likes bullies, hence the shit-throwing that happens.
Whining on the internet is generally an ineffective tactic for dealing with bullies. It also requires the absolute minimum amount of effort or mental exertion, hence why there is so much of it.

If you actually care, write your congressmen (or whatever the local equivalent is). Write the EFF. Post up fliers; tell people about what is happening and why it should matter to them. Put your actions where your words are and your boots to the ground to help push this reform forward.
 

triassic911

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The problem with these threads is that readers don't understand that you can't apply the same kind of ethics to a corporation that you do on a personal level. The duty of a corporation is to provide the maximum financial restitution to it's members, and if traded, it's shareholders. This includes not only producing products for which to sell, but anything one can do to get a market advantage. This is not a problem derived from Apple. They just happen to at the moment have the most resources to throw at the legal system. I have no doubt that if HTC or Samsung were in the financial position Apple currently is, they would be just as active in pursuing litigation. It's basically a straight capital investment towards their market position. The problem is that there are legal systems on this planet which promote activity detrimental to the market (the US is notoriously bad here).

Whether or not HTC or any other company actually stole IP is almost completely irrelevant to the instigating party. What matters is that you can use your superior resources to tie up the opposition however you can. It's just smart business.

PS: This is a long-standing misconception, which doesn't really make any sense to me, but anyone who thinks that Apple dropped whatever design they had and completely rebuilt the iPhone in the four months before Macworld (less than a year before shipping the product), is completely insane.
While I agree that they are taking actions in the interest of their company by protecting their patents, we as the readers/consumers just see it as "dick move", and Apple will slowly become disliked because of these actions. I can assure you that some people see Apple differently after reading this. That applies to any company with news that looks like this.


I am glad someone finally won against Apple.
This was a serious waist of a lawsuit to begin with.
waste*
 

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