HTC

Samsung barred from proactive use of Apple-HTC deal in litigation

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

In spite of the massive coverage concerning the high-profile Apple vs. Samsung trial, it's easily overlooked that Apple first went thermonuclear on Android by suing HTC. Following the rise of Samsung and subsequent decline of the Taiwanese handset maker, Apple and HTC in November 2012 announced a global settlement on patent litigation.

Terms of the deal have never been made public, but we do know the two sides agreed to a ten-year cross-licensing for all current and future patents and I guesstimated the deal's value to at least $3 billion.

Yesterday, Judge Lucy Koh issued an order granting Apple's motion to exclude last year's Apple-HTC settlement and license agreement at the pending Apple vs. Samsung retrial. The ruling conditionally bars Samsung from pointing the jury to the Apple-HTC settlement deal...

German court invalidates Apple’s slide-to-unlock patent, but it’s not big deal

Ed Sutherland ∙ April 5, 2013

A German court ruled invalid Apple's patent for a sliding touchscreen unlocking image, marking another win for allies of Google's Android mobile operating. In its ruling in favor of the Google-owned Motorola, the country's Federal Patent Court slammed the iPhone maker's slide-to-unlock patent as devoid of "technological innovation." Still, a long-running patent dispute which began in 2011 may still live on as Apple's legal team prepares for a round of appeals, according to Friday reports...

Judge says patents involved in Apple-HTC deal must remain unsealed

Cody Lee ∙ December 4, 2012

In a ruling late last night, US District Court Judge Lucy Koh ordered that the patents Apple and HTC are cross-licensing as part of their settlement are to remain unsealed, suggesting that the public will eventually get a look at this information.

The order comes two weeks after US Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal granted Samsung's motion to compel, forcing Apple to disclose the terms of its deal with HTC to its legal team. But now it looks like we'll all get a peek inside the pact...

Apple agrees to show the heavily redacted HTC patent pact to Samsung

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 24, 2012

Samsung is more than welcome to take a peek inside Apple's ten-year patent pact with the ailing handset maker HTC, but key data will be blanked out. South Korea-based Samsung last Friday filed a motion to compel, seeking to obtain the settlement and patent license agreement with HTC, saying it's relevant to its patent battle with the iPhone maker.

As things stand now, a version Apple promised to provide will be marked as "Highly Confidential - Attorneys' Eyes Only" and will contain 33 redacted words. Apple’s generosity knows no boundaries…

Apple and HTC in ongoing settlement talks over patent dispute

Cody Lee ∙ September 10, 2012

In December of last year, Apple won an ITC case against HTC. The International Trade Commission ruled that HTC's Android products infringed on Apple's '647 patent on "analyzing and linking data structures," and banned many of them from the US.

Though HTC has since developed a workaround, Apple brought its complaint back to the ITC this summer. But at least this time they're willing to talk about it. A new report says the two sides are in ongoing settlement talks regarding the dispute...

Apple’s chief counsel is ‘field marshal’ in Android battle

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

If Apple's "thermonuclear war" on Android had a leader, it would be Noreen Krall, chief litigator for the Cupertino, Calif. iPhone maker. Indeed, Bloomberg's profile of Krall describes her as Apple's legal "field marshall."

"Krall has become a familiar sight in courtrooms around the world as Apple’s chief litigation counsel," Bloomberg writes. Even before Apple won a $1.05 billion patent-infringement decision (now being appealed) against Samsung, Krall thanked junior members of the legal team for all the hard work...

Apple involved in 60% of all major mobile patent suits

Cody Lee ∙ Updated February 7, 2016

When Steve Jobs unveiled the original iPhone back in 2007, he commented "and boy have we patented it." The CEO knew that Apple had something special on its hands, and that everyone else was going to try and replicate it.

He was right. Those patents he was referring to have since been involved in hundreds of lawsuits around the globe. In fact, a new report suggests that Apple is actually at the center of 60% of all major mobile litigation...

HTC profits fall 57% in wake of Apple injunction

Cody Lee ∙ July 6, 2012

It may seem like nothing ever comes from all of these ongoing patent lawsuits, but that's not always the case. Just ask HTC, who saw shipments of its flagship handset held up at U.S. Customs back in May due to an injunction order.

The delay only lasted a few weeks, but it left HTC unable to get its One X and other handsets into the hands of customers on launch weekend. And the company cites it as one of the main reasons why its profits plunged last quarter...

Apple says HTC lied to Customs, asks for another import ban

Cody Lee ∙ June 26, 2012

Late last year, the International Trade Commission found HTC to be infringing on one of Apple's patents. So the ITC gave the company until April to correct the problem, before enforcing a country-wide import ban on its products.

Long story short, shipments of several HTC devices were held up at U.S. customs last month due to the ruling. And even though it supposedly found a workaround, and the shipments were released, HTC isn't out of the woods just yet...

HTC alters functionality of US handsets to bypass Apple patents

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 17, 2012

If you ever wondered whether Apple's patent infringement claims against HTC were worth the pain, here's your answer.

Responding to a recent exclusion order by the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) concerning HTC One X and Evo 4G LTE shipments, the Taiwanese handset maker, once the dominant force in the Android camp, is now pre-loading its U.S. phones with an altered build of Android software.

Designed to bypass Apple patents, it changes the expected behavior of these devices. As a result, flagship HTC phones waiting to be imported into the United States now feature notably different functionality compared to HTC devices shipping elsewhere in the world.

The change is also impacting the uniformity of the Android experience, suggesting Apple was right to sue in the first place...

HTC One X and Evo 4G LTE shipments delayed at US Customs due to Apple patents

Cody Lee ∙ May 15, 2012

So this is pretty big news: The Verge is reporting that it has learned that shipments of HTC's One X and Evo 4G LTE handsets have been indefinitely delayed at US Customs due to an import ban order handed down by the ITC last year.

The International Trade Commission ruled last December that HTC was infringing upon an Apple patent regarding the auto-hyperlinking of phone numbers and other data in text, resulting in a country-wide ban of HTC's products...

ITC dismisses HTC complaint, Apple wins again

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

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...