Apple's licensing deal with HTC has been carefully structured to prevent third-parties such as Samsung from gaining patent protection by strategically acquiring the struggling phone manufacturer, it's been revealed. The agreement between the two firms was announced earlier this month, though neither Apple nor HTC would confirm much in the way of details; however, according to a heavily redacted version found by FOSSPatents, there's a special clause present which automatically invalidates the deal should either Apple or HTC be taken over.
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‘patent’ Stories
Buying HTC won’t solve Samsung’s Apple patent problem
HTC CEO: Apple Android tax estimates are “outrageous”
HTC CEO Peter Chou has blasted "outrageous" estimates at the per-device settlement fee rumored to be required in its cross-licensing patent agreement with Apple, instead describing the deal as "a good ending." Questioned as to whether a $6-$8 charge per Android phone was indeed the settlement amount during a press event in Tokyo, Chou refused to name a specific number, Reuters reports, but said those figures were both "baseless" and "very, very wrong."
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Samsung requests Apple and HTC settlement details
This past weekend, Apple and HTC reached a settlement to end the legal squabble between the two companies. Now Samsung, who has been engaged in a series of lawsuits with Apple across the world, is poking around the deal. Earlier today, the Korean company submitted a formal request in court that, if granted, will require Apple to fork over a copy of the license agreement.
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Apple granted patent for page-turn animation
If you've been a long-time iOS user and also read your fair share of ebooks, then you'll know that Apple implemented a pretty cool page-turning animation when reading ebooks, meaning that sliding your finger across the screen to go to the next page resulted in the page actually turning, just like it would with a real book. And finally, USPTO has granted Apple the patent for that animation.
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Apple and Samsung can add products to lawsuit, judge rules
On November 6, we reported that Apple and Samsung, in their seemingly never-ending patent war, sought to have additional items added to the existing lawsuit between the two companies. Judge Grewal was reported to have expressed concern that not allowing the companies to add products would trigger a new series of lawsuits. Now, ten days later, he has ruled in favor of the requests.
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Samsung has “no intention” of Apple settlement says mobile chief
Samsung has “no intention” of chasing a settlement with Apple, its mobile chief has insisted, refusing to follow HTC in ending ongoing patent battles outside of the courtroom. Asked whether an HTC-style agreement was in the pipeline, Samsung Mobile head J.K. Shin told press that “we have no such intention” the AFP reports, going on to predict Q4 2012 sales at least as strong as those in Q3.
HTC signs up for the Apple tax: $6-8 per Android phone
It would appear that HTC is now set up to pay two giant companies for the rights to use their patents rather than face their legal wrath: their newest being Apple for $6-8 USD a phone. The other company HTC is into for cash-per-device is Microsoft, revealed all the way back in 2010 as an industry changing agreement for $5 USD a phone. The difference between that fee and this are small for HTC and for Apple and Microsoft in the end, but for this one fact: it does still appear that Microsoft makes more from Android-carrying device patent license fees than it does from its own Windows Phone platform – though that may change in the oncoming Windows Phone 8 season.
Apple must pay Samsung’s UK legal costs after iPad copy comment farce
Apple has been forced to pay for Samsung’s legal fees in the UK, after an appeals court decided the Cupertino firm’s first public statement on the tablet copying ruling was “false and misleading.” Having failed to convince a UK court that Samsung had copied its iPad design for its own tablets, Apple produced a passive aggressive statement that, while hosted on its UK site as per the judge’s instructions, also cited international court decisions that described Samsung products as “uncool” copies. Now, despite having replaced that original statement - which supposedly had more than 1m hits – with a toned-down version, Apple is being made to pay Samsung’s costs in penance.
Apple and HTC reach global legal settlement
It would seem that the patent wars between Apple and HTC are no more as both camps have released a statement detailing a 10 year settlement between them. This is a monumental development for not just the two companies themselves, but for the legal universe surrounding technology and gadgets on the whole. As for HTC and Apple, they’ve made it clear that this agreements means they’ll be able to focus on product innovation for a long time to come.
Apple faces second FaceTime lawsuit over iPhone 5 and iPad mini
Apple faces a second attack on its use of FaceTime, with web software firm VirnetX dragging the Cupertino firm back into the courtroom over video calling tech in the iPhone 5, iPad mini, and other hardware. VirnetX, which scored a $368m win against Apple earlier this week, claims the new smartphone and 7.9-inch tablet - as well as the 4th-gen iPad with Retina display, the 5th-gen iPod touch, and the latest batch of Macs - are just as guilty of infringing its networking-based patents as earlier iOS gadgets.
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Apple patents dual mode next-generation headphones
Apple has filed for an interesting patent on a next-generation headphone design that operates in two modes. One of those modes is your normal everyday headphone mode that we're all familiar with. The other mode turns the headphones into loudspeakers for listening to music with a group when the headphones are placed on a table or other surface. When in speaker mode they even have an amplifier to make the music sound better.
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Patent suits targeting Google, Intel and others for encrypting web traffic filed
The technology world is no stranger to patent suits from companies dubbed "patent trolls" who simply buy up patents and offer no products using the intellectual property they claim to own. Another massive suit is brewing from a company sure to be labeled a patent troll by the name of TQP Development. The company is based in Marshall, Texas and the suits reference US patent number 5,412,730.
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