HTC Android Phones Are Being Banned from the US Next Year

[deepakjain.a]

HTC Android Phones Are Being Banned from the US Next Year








This is huge, via Gizmodo, Apple just won a big court victory against HTC that could force HTC to stop selling its Android phones in the United States. The United States International Trade Commission ruled that HTC was infringing on an Apple patent that effects HTC Android devices running Android 1.6 to 2.2.
The devices that may be banned from being sold in the US is basically a who's who list of Android phones: Droid Incredible, Evo 4G, T-Mobile G2, Nexus One and a bunch of older Android devices. The patent that the courts ruled HTC was infringing on (#5,946,647) is potentially a big one. According to Fortune, who took a deep look at the specific patent, it works like this:
When an iPhone receives a message that contains a phone number or an address ? e-mail, Web or street ? those bits of data are automatically highlighted, underlined and turned into clickable links.
I guess it's not that bad HTC need restore these phone with Android 2.3 or higher, which can avoid the Apple's hit.
That's huge, not only because it's an important feature in smartphones but because it could mean Apple could go on to attack other Android phone makers because it's the OS that's infringing the patent, not the hardware. However, if HTC Android phones removed that feature (unlikely) or implement it in a different way (which we expect HTC to do), they could keep on selling. And that's pretty much what HTC expects to do, HTC, which has responded to this decision with rainbow colored unicorn tears, reached out to us with this statement:
This decision is a win for HTC and we are gratified that the commission affirmed the judge's determination on the ?721 and ?983 patents, and reversed its decision on the ?263 patent and partially on the ?647 patent. We are very pleased with the determination and we respect it. However, the ?647 patent is a small UI experience and HTC will completely remove it from all of our phones soon.
Yes, the patent in question is a fixable problem but I'd hardly categorize the court's decision as a win for HTC. If HTC doesn't fix this issue however, the ban on HTC Android phones in the US is set to take into effect on April 19, 2012. That's not winning.
There are still some real moves left for HTC to make to avoid the import ban (a Presidential veto is an option) but this is sure setting up for a major stateside war (thermonuclear, even) between Apple and Android phone makers much like with what's happening with Apple and Samsung Tablets in Europe and Australia.


Source: Source

deepakjain.a Reviewed by deepakjain.a on 20th Dec 2011. HTC Android Phones Are Being Banned from the US Next Year HTC Android Phones Are Being Banned from the US Next Year http://i.lulzimg.com/c2eaaa3100.jpg This is huge, via Gizmodo, Apple just won a big court victory against HTC that could force HTC to stop selling its Android phones in the United States. The United States International Trade Commission ruled that HTC was infringing on an Apple patent that effects HTC Android devices running Android 1.6 to 2.2. Rating: 5

[Djlatino]

Illumanati.

[Mr Happy]

They are not being banned. They have until April the 19 to modify a small feature. They don't even have to remove it as the judge ruled against that. It's a victory for Apple but a minor one. Their are almost 100 worldwide mobile legal battles going on currently some go in favor of Apple, some like the one last week just before this one go in favor of Google.

And seriously all they have to do is upgrade to 2.3 as it only affects older versions. If anything this is a win for Google as they have being having trouble getting carriers to upgrade and this could force them to.


These articles are just attention grabbing headlines that won't make a global difference overall to the situation.

[foxman]

Thats not going to happen man! Its just news gimmick!

[JmZ]

Yet again, the news and blogs exaggerating a small decision.

All HTC has to do is modify or remove the feature defined in the patent in question. They could do that in a matter of days, this is no problem for HTC and won't damage them in any way. It may be a 'win' for apple, but it's a very small, irrelevant one which makes absolutely no difference to anything.

People should stop exaggerating random crap like this, especially the blogs, all of it is BS.

[kewld00d]

This is like saying "Paintings banned in the USA" when a certain red paint is made illegal because it causes cancer.