Josh Ong
At a media briefing in Taiwan on Wednesday, Chou dismissed the infringing feature, which automatically recognizes formatted data such as email address and phone numbers and displays them as a link, as one that is "actually quite rarely used," Bloomberg reports.
The ITC issued an import ban against HTC on Monday that would block it from selling its Android handsets in the U.S. The ban is set to take effect on April 19, 2012. According to Chou, HTC has already developed a workaround and has been testing new phones with the software.
Apple began using the Data Detectors invention in the 1990s in Mac OS 8 before eventually implementing it in Mac OS X and iOS. The commission found that the "Linkify" functionality in HTC's Android devices infringed upon Apple's patent for the technology.
For its part, HTC has said it considers Monday's decision "a win" because it let the company off the hook from Apple's more serious patent infringement claims. The ITC's final ruling reversed a previous judgment that HTC had infringed on a real-time signal processing patent by Apple. A work around for that patent would have proved more complicated than simply removing "Linkify."
Analysts quickly responded to the decision, noting that Apple's narrow victory is not likely to have a major effect on either company. RBC Capital Markets' Mike Abramsky said the removal of the feature would "slightly widen" the iPhone's differentiation from HTC devices, but he conceded that it was only a "small prize for Apple and a small dent against Android."
Chou also said during the briefing that the handset maker would continue to work with Google to "protect ourselves." Both Apple and HTC have several outstanding legal complaints against each other. The Taiwanese handset maker recently filed a lawsuit against Apple using patents acquired by Google earlier this year.
Christine McKee
Charles Martin
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33 Comments
This Chou guy says a lot of stuff doesn't he?
Good luck pushing an update to all the HTC handsets in the field.
It's a feature that's rarely used? Is this guy kidding?
When companies are allowed to steal intellectual property, this actually stifles innovation because instead of innovating and inventing new things, companies are just copying. When there are a lot of me-too products on the market, profit margins are driven down so nobody makes money anymore. This results in cost cutting and job losses and high unemployment.
Stealing IP should be viewed as economic terrorism and a threat to the wealth of a nation.
I wonder where South Korea would be today if the US pulled their troops from the North Korean Border. I wonder where Taiwan would be if China is allowed to "reunite" Taiwan to the Middle Kingdom. HTC & Samsung, do not bite the hand that fed you...
That said, Steve Jobs' greatest innovation is Apple itself. If Apple continues at its current pace of innovation, no company will ever be able to catch up to it. By the time they do, Apple is already out with the next paradigm shift in technology. Apple is an innovation machine.
Many are saying the patent system is broke. I agree that it is broke because the companies whose IP is being stolen has to spend a huge amount of time and resources to ward off the copycats. Then they have to wait two years or more for the judicial system to decide. That's longer than most product life cycles. By the time they win a case, the infringing product is no longer on the market. But the damage has already been done.
So does HTC have to pay up or do they just push out an update and everything is hunky dory? Is anyone working for Google affiliated with Al-Queda? Google is certainly nuking a lot of corporate America with its free Android to the rest of the world. This Android thing is giving all these East Asian companies an edge with American technology.
The government should set up a patent body that enforces patent rights. Like a police patrol that prevents thieves from stealing in a neighborhood. If the FCC approves everything before it goes to market, shouldn't somebody check on whether a new product is infringing before approving sale in the open market?