According to an article in the NY Times tech section, "Microsoft has seen the writing on the glass. Right out of the box, Windows 7 recognizes all of those iPhonish finger gestures: pinch, spread, rotate, flick, tap, double-tap."
Several manufacturers such as Toshiba and HP offer computers with touch screen support. Will Apple go after Microsoft or is the whole HTC thing Steve Jobs' personal vendetta against Android and Google?
Surprisingly, multi-touch is not among the patents Apple is going after HTC for.
If you ask me, Apple is going after HTC hoping that they'll win so that they'll have a precedent when they go after their actual target, Google. Testing the waters with (relatively) weaker prey. (This is, of course, only speculation.)
somegirl wrote:Surprisingly, multi-touch is not among the patents Apple is going after HTC for.
If you ask me, Apple is going after HTC hoping that they'll win so that they'll have a precedent when they go after their actual target, Google. Testing the waters with (relatively) weaker prey. (This is, of course, only speculation.)
I agree... Multitouch is not part of the claims in this suit... Apple knows that some of there patents are weak and most ( maybe all) would likely not hold up in court. However, if Apple can get the ITC (International Trade Commission) to ban the import of HTC phones, it will really not have to defend it's patents in court to severely hurt Android by eliminating the best Android based Phones.
This may well backfire on Apple however. If they somehow win their suit against HTC, It will more or less prove that similar weak software patents against Apple ( like Nokia ) are also valid. Also, if they were able to shut down virtually all competition to the iPhone (Apple's real goal), it might bring down the wrath of anti-trust ligation from both the US and the European Union. It could also encourage existing ompanies to launch premptive suits against Apple. Motorola, Palm and Microsoft, for example, could easily make many claims against Apple. Apple could quickly find itself defending against dozens of law suits by dozens of companies.... An all out patent war if you will....
If I were HTC or Google, I would buy Palm and go after Apple for a for a few of these silly patent claims... This would make it almost impossible for the ITC to justify to banning the HTC phones without also banning the iPhone. However, I think today's companies lack that type of bold leadership....
Guess I had leftover thoughts from all the past discussions that blamed lack of multi-touch in Android native apps on alleged Apple patents.
Don’t want to add to the misinformed patent speculation but, Microsoft and Apple have several patent sharing agreements for many years so it is unlikely that there is the basis for an IP suit between them. Apple is contending theft of intellectual property and has many patents going back decades to cover this. If it prevails with HTC then it need go no further as others will have to yield.
This is no different than Google or MS would do in similar circumstances, protecting their patented intellectual property inventions. All this heat directed to Apple is misinformed. The phones that we currently have and like have much to thank Apple for. Were there any smartphones like these before the iPhone?Just my opinion.
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