Having trouble keeping track of all of Apple’s legal entanglements? We don’t blame you. The company is currently engaged in courtroom battles around the world with both Samsung and Motorola, and is in an ongoing fight with HTC here in the US.
But it seems as though the latter spat is starting to wind down. The ITC just dismissed HTC’s final complaint against Apple, and unless the Taiwanese manufacturer wins an appeal, the two-year old lawsuit could finally be coming to an end…
FOSSPatents reports:
“In October 2011, an Administrative Law Judge made an initial determination that identified no violation [from Apple] of four of HTC’s asserted patents. HTC had originally also asserted — but meanwhile withdrawn — a fifth patent. HTC asked the Commission, the six-member decision-making body at the top of the ITC, to review the ALJ’s preliminary ruling. In December, the Commission granted a review, but with respect to only one of the patents.
Today’s ruling terminates the investigation with respect to the sole remaining patent. HTC could appeal the ITC’s final decision to the Federal Circuit, but that may not be a good use of its resources because it looks that this case is fundamentally weak.”
This particular HTC lawsuit was in response to Apple’s original patent infringement suit that it filed against the handset-maker back in 2010. The two companies have been going back and forth ever sense, and will likely continue to do so.
But for now, both HTC and Apple have much bigger fish to fry. Apple is trying to avoid a multi-product ban in Germany thanks to a recent Motorola lawsuit, and HTC is trying to figure out how to turn around declining handset sales.