HTC Responds to Apple's iPhone Lawsuit
HTC believes that its Sense UI is unique and not copied from Apple's iPhone.
Apple yesterday opened up a big lawsuit against HTC for violation of 20 patents "related to the iPhone's user interface, underlying architecture, and hardware."
HTC today responded with an investor announcement of its own. While the phone maker's announcement doesn't feature any words from an enigmatic CEO, HTC gets to the point and tells investors that it "does not believe this lawsuit poses a short-term material impact to its business nor will it affect its Q1 2010 guidance."
HTC also stressed that it values U.S. and international patent rights and will work with in the U.S. Judicial System to protect its own innovations and rights.
The handset maker also took a slight jab at Apple's limited-choice platforms by saying, "HTC believes that consumer choice is a key component to success in the smartphone industry and this is best achieved through multiple suppliers providing a variety of mobile experiences."
Apple's lawsuit against HTC is presumably due to the Taiwanese company's Sense UI that's used on its Android phones. The company added comments that express its believe that Sense UI is unique and not taken from Apple: "HTC has focused on offering its customers a uniquely-HTC experience through HTC Sense and its broad portfolio of smartphones."
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Some how i'm not the least bit surprised about their response...
HTC: stop comparing apples with oranges, when oranges are clearly better
Didn't apple lose this same argument vs. M$ 20 years ago?
The sense media player looks a hell of a lot like cover flow... Not that copying software ideas is anything new but a couple of those sense features raised an eyebrow as to how boldly they ripped off the iPhone UI.
i have been an iphone user for about 6-7 months now and its the best phone ive ever had, however, i needed to jailbreak it just to get the functionality i wanted out of it (which apple actively is trying to circumvent), i like how android and HTC doesn't force you into a sandbox environment. I can't wait until android has matured beyond that of the closed apple iphone os.
Didn't apple lose this same argument vs. M$ 20 years ago?
Except now apple has $20 billion to spend on lawyers. HTC is done for.
Apple really just needs to fall off the face of the earth.
htc isnt the little company everyone thinks they are... they are the 4th largest smartphone maker in the world.. and they have the support of m$ and google... if htc gets shaken by this ill be very supprised.
I dunno how Apple were even granted those patents. Multitouch... not an Apple invention. Clickable icons... not an Apple invention. Picture button to unlock a device... not an Apple invention.
Juice... not an Apple invention. Iraq's WMD... not an Apple invention.
The US Patent office ought to be ashamed of itself.
Except now apple has $20 billion to spend on lawyers. HTC is done for.
Just cause the HTC name hasn't been well known till recently does not mean it is a small company, it is rather big and has the support of many big companies that rely on it for their products. HTC will not go down at all, doubt it will even bother them.
Except now apple has $20 billion to spend on lawyers. HTC is done for.
No, because when they fought MS, they lost in court with the court saying you cannot trademark or patent "a look". If HTC can show that their technology is different, but looks the same, Apple won't win due to precidence.
Apple really just needs to fall off the face of the earth.
Now now,, if apple did that, who would come up with the idea of he cool multi-touch multimedia cell phone with tilting accelerometer and proximity sensor along with pinch zoom interface? I mean palm and blackberry had 12 years to come out with a touch phone that didn't require a stylus... Now thanks to apple, Android was invented and every phone is a touch phone.
Seems like everyone is suing everyone these days for infringement or some other reason. Personally, I prefer apple's touchscreen over HTCs. My mom has a G1 and my dad bought a Nexus One recently, and despite the Nexus's speed advantage, the my FIRST GEN iPhone still has a more organic and natural feel to it. And that's after using my parents' phones for a long, long time. Now, I'm no apple fanboy, so please don't blast me for that. I'm just saying I prefer the feel of the iPhone's touchscreen interface.
May be worth mentioning that googles comment on this (was on engadget) is that they support their os (android) and its hardware manufacturers (this includes HTC), so i think HTC may have googles help on this - not sure in what sense (no pun intended), but this could be in the form of lawyers or something if HTC cant handle it (i cant see why not)
Except now apple has $20 billion to spend on lawyers. HTC is done for.
Unless Google decides to step up. If HTC loses this it could be used as precedent against other android phones in future cases (similar to worlds.com going after NCSoft instead of Blizzard).
90% chance this will be thrown out the door. If this goes thru and becomes a precedent of future lawsuits, say hello to monopoly.
This just proves that Apple feels the heat, and rather than produce a *gasp* better product, they just sue the competition. What a bunch of fuckheads.
HTC FTW.
WORD!
I think that besides the legal issue, which as was mentioned above is ridiculous, it's great PR for HTC.
BTW, I just love my HTC Hero. Wouldn't change it for iPhone for sure.
HTC FTW.
Seems like everyone is suing everyone these days for infringement or some other reason. Personally, I prefer apple's touchscreen over HTCs. My mom has a G1 and my dad bought a Nexus One recently, and despite the Nexus's speed advantage, the my FIRST GEN iPhone still has a more organic and natural feel to it. And that's after using my parents' phones for a long, long time. Now, I'm no apple fanboy, so please don't blast me for that. I'm just saying I prefer the feel of the iPhone's touchscreen interface.
Neither of those phones have Sense UI. But thanks for bragging about your iphone...
the die is cast, it will be settled by the judge, not by press releases.
http://techdusts.com/2010/03/04/apple-htc/
If you have the chance to visit China and some other Aisan countires in the 2008 and early 2009, you will find a lot of HTC advertisements showing their msmartphones pretending to be official iPhone from them.
pcwlai, I can confirm that. HTC is clearly on the wrong side
@Apple really just needs to fall off the face of the earth.
Please go and sell some nuts and stop making such silly comments.
Maybe if Apple wasn't so busy patent trolling then they could finally update its overpriced pieces of sh... er, I meant 'PCs'.
/facepalm
Simple solution just make it where HTC cant sell phone on At&t Service since thats the only one the iphone is available for.