HTC Faces Possible Import Ban This December; Google's Android Could Be Next

[shaggykid]

If only I had a time machine to go back to, say 1995, and patent a rectangular shape with rounded edges. And white. Especially white.

Lmao!

Or patent as general as possible like apple... "a device used for transmitting/receiving phone calls and messages. With a screen and buttons." Then I could sue all these damn phone companies

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[mrdorunjr]

If they do get Android banned, I will join the civil lawsuit placed against apple for infringing on consumer rights and creating a monopoly.

yeah big +1 on that, when i read this i literally yelled what the f*ck is that sh!t, this is beyond ridiculous apple you have taken it too far

 

[OneTenderRebel]

I wish I could patent ridiculous analogies.......

 

[scott craft]

I'm sure apple is ok with android leading in market share since apple leading in profits by a large margin. With that said I think the patent infringement lawsuits are getting ridiculous.
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[skruid]

Apple is scared that they are gonna lose all there customers lol, ridiculous lawsuits and infringements

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[alboboy10]

Wont happen in america.

 

[kodiak799]

I don't know. It seems like Apple would be content to dominate the premium share. They aren't losing share, and still gaining customers like mad, so I'm not sure of all the defensive posturing.

I think it's simply that Android has a huge share and Apple is trying to extort massive licensing fees, except they don't seem very interested in licensing at the moment.

 

[jroc]

If Apple is smart that dont really want Android phones, tablets banned permanently.

Lets say that happens....there is no guarantee that everybody or the majority will all jump ship to the iPhone, iPad. If anything....it will help WP7. With WP7 you still have that choice of hardware. Then Apple is back to square 1. Keeping Android on the market....they have a chance to cash in like MS is doing. And you better believe MS doesnt want to see Android gone. Thats basically free money for them with the license deals they already have.

I dont think the ppl at Apple is really that dumb.

 

[Jonas]

I'm not siding with Apple in this, quite frankly I am against this, but I think some attention should be paid to the sheer genius of not only the timing, but the swiftness of this lawsuit. Either Apple is utterly brilliant in the timing of this lawsuit, to ban phones for the holiday season, or something is going on behind the scenes that isn't being reported. Personally, I have a feeling this is going to backfire on Apple since Eric Schmidt and Mark Zuckerberg are friends from what I have heard, and between the two of them, you have probably the 3 biggest websites in the world. Thats not fire I want to be playing with. For those of you not following, Eric Schmidt is the CEO of Google which owns Youtube also, and the Zuckerberg owns Facebook. I have a feeling if this doesn't come up as a win for Apple, Facebook and Youtube may become very unfriendly toward Apple and their marketing campaign. Just my 2 cents though.

 

[OneTenderRebel]

I've given this some thought tonight and here is what I have concluded, these lawsuits are going to end up being really good for everyone involved (just hear me out here, stop yelling at me). Apple for some reason was awarded these patents, that is another story for another day as to why, so they have every right to do with them what they please whether we like it or not. It is 100% fair for them to license or sue the crap out of anyone they feel is infringing upon them. Maybe not the best business practice but they are absolutely entitled to do so. Now that we all agree that it's not Apple's fault but it is, in fact, the Patent system royally messing everything up (we all agree right? :biggrin, this is why these lawsuits will be good for all parties involved, if these judges grant injunctions like they have been it gives them time to also look at the validity of the Patents called into question. Most of these patents are so incredibly broad and ridiculous that no single company should be allowed to have them. The judges are judges for a reason, they are smart, they won't just let Apple wipe Android off the face of the earth with these lawsuits. Like we have seen already, these judges are starting to rule against Apple saying the patents are, just as we have said, too broad to hold any real weight to them. I think when enough judges rule against Apple it will force them out of the court system and back into the tech labs where the real competition should be. Apple knows without competition you just become complacent so I don't know why they really want to accomplish with these lawsuits, maybe they really do think they are blatantly being infringed upon or maybe they are just the giant crap faces everyone here thinks they are. But in the end, if the courts do their job, this will force innovation to take back over. Yes it sucks to keep reading about all these lawsuits, and to keep seeing me defend Apple haha, but I think that has to come to end at some point. Hopefully it is sooner than later.

And end rant. Sorry for the horrible grammar but....well no I am not sorry, this is not an english class so lay off me.

 

[captdroid]

If this is encouragement from Apple to somehow get me interested in buying their products it's not working now and never will in the future... lol I actually own a Apple II which was a great system for it's time but that's when Apple was a open technology company. So long Apple remains a closed technology company of today (which I expect they will) I have no interest in their products ever again. To bad because the Woz I don't think would ever have wanted Apple like it is today. Stephen Wozniak is the technical brains behind the first Apple computers among other interesting and very open devices! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wozniak

 

[NeXtras]

Not for nothing, but wouldnt a Windows phone infringe the patents too? Apple is quite OBVIOUSLY intimidated by Android..

From the quote in the OP, "Google's Android mobile operating system is in serious trouble. It's hard to see how any Android device could not infringe [the patents], or how companies could work around them.".. If a company can not work around a patent to make their own, couldn't that be considered a monopoly?

Wasn't it apple who wanted Microsoft to SHARE their software, and make it compatible with Apple???.. and yet we still can't get iMovie, iPhoto etc on a Windows based computer...

 

[jseah]

Really. At one time GM was the world's largest manufacturing company. Gues what it is now.
At one time US steel was the largest steel manufacturer. Guess what it is now.

Not saying that Apple will ever fall, but like Microsoft it can drop in value. And never say never! Any large corporation can hit the dumps almost as fast as the raised to the top of the ladder.

As for the iPhone, I would say there are two reasons. One is iTunes, and the other is the dedication of their customers.

But they do make some great computer products too, but so did IBM at one time.

Also, remember that under John Sculley, Apple sales fell to the point where (according to the documentary on Steve Jobs) when Steve Jobs returned to Apple, they were literally 90 days away from running out of money. Steve Jobs then approached Bill Gates and got him to invest $150 million into Apple in return for non-voting stock, which gave Apple money to remain liquid and allowed them to turn around the company.

 

[jseah]

If this is encouragement from Apple to somehow get me interested in buying their products it's not working now and never will in the future... lol I actually own a Apple II which was a great system for it's time but that's when Apple was a open technology company. So long Apple remains a closed technology company of today (which I expect they will) I have no interest in their products ever again. To bad because the Woz I don't think would ever have wanted Apple like it is today. Stephen Wozniak is the technical brains behind the first Apple computers among other interesting and very open devices! Steve Wozniak - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If you recall, there was a news piece about Steve Wozniak stopping by the Google offices and picking up a Galaxy Nexus before anyone else.

 

[jseah]

I don't know. It seems like Apple would be content to dominate the premium share. They aren't losing share, and still gaining customers like mad, so I'm not sure of all the defensive posturing.

I think it's simply that Android has a huge share and Apple is trying to extort massive licensing fees, except they don't seem very interested in licensing at the moment.

If Apple is smart that dont really want Android phones, tablets banned permanently.

Lets say that happens....there is no guarantee that everybody or the majority will all jump ship to the iPhone, iPad. If anything....it will help WP7. With WP7 you still have that choice of hardware. Then Apple is back to square 1. Keeping Android on the market....they have a chance to cash in like MS is doing. And you better believe MS doesnt want to see Android gone. Thats basically free money for them with the license deals they already have.

I dont think the ppl at Apple is really that dumb.

+1. While Steve Jobs was alive, and in his younger days, I'm sure that he would have wanted nothing less than to have Android devices banned from the market, not just content with receiving licensing fees. With Steve Jobs gone now, I'm sure common sense will prevail and Apple just wants the free money from licensing, rather than see Android go away. I'm sure that they can't possibly be foolish enough to think that with Android out of the picture, then Android's market share would automatically gravitate towards, and become Apple's market share.

On a side note, I wonder why Apple hasn't filed any patent lawsuits against Motorola, only HTC and Samsung? I wonder if it is possibly with Motorola's wide portfolio of patents, then Apple could be potentially infringing on some Motorola cell phone patents with the iPhone? It will be interesting to see what develops when the Google acquisition of Motorola goes through.