HTC responds to Apple's lawsuit

By on Mar 18, 2010 at 12:13 AM
Favorites March 18, 2010

htc-logoHTC just hit us up with an official response to Apple’s patent lawsuit filed against them. In short, HTC is sticking up for themselves, naming the innovations they’ve been to market with, and listing some of the industry-wide recognition they’ve received. Look, we’re not arguing for either side, like whether Apple is wrong for filing suit for whatever reason, or whether HTC actually did violate some of Apple’s patents, but this press release is more of a slight-of-hand movement than an actual response. Though they do say pretty clearly that they will defend themselves. What do you think? It’s after the break…

Seattle – March 17, 2010 – HTC Corporation today outlined its disagreement with Apple’s legal actions and reiterated its commitment to creating a portfolio of innovative smartphones that gives consumers a variety of choices. Founded in 1997 with a passion for innovation and a vision for how smartphones would change people’s lives, HTC has continually driven this vision by consistently introducing award-winning smartphones with U.S. mobile operators.

“HTC disagrees with Apple’s actions and will fully defend itself. HTC strongly advocates intellectual property protection and will continue to respect other innovators and their technologies as we have always done, but we will continue to embrace competition through our own innovation as a healthy way for consumers to get the best mobile experience possible,” said Peter Chou, chief executive officer, HTC Corporation. “From day one, HTC has focused on creating cutting-edge innovations that deliver unique value for people looking for a smartphone. In 1999 we started designing the XDA

The O2 XDA by HTC was the first 3.5-inch color touch screen smartphone in the world in 2002. and T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition The T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition by HTC was the first 3.5-inch color touch screen smartphone in the United States in 2002., our first touch-screen smartphones, and they both shipped in 2002 with more than 50 additional HTC smartphone models shipping since then.”

The industry has recognized HTC’s contributions through a variety of awards including Fast Company’s 2010 Top 50 Most Innovative Companies and MIT Technology Review’s 2010 50 Most Innovative Companies. The GSMA also recently awarded the HTC Hero as the “Best Phone of 2009.” Some of HTC’s technology firsts include:

  • First Windows PDA (1998)

  • First Windows Phone (June 2002)

  • First 3G CDMA EVDO smartphone (October 2005)

  • First gesture-based smartphone (June 2007)

  • First Google Android smartphone (October 2008)

  • First 4G WIMAX smartphone (November 2008)

In 2009, HTC launched its branded user experience, HTC Sense. HTC Sense is focused on putting people at the center by making phones work in a more simple and natural way. This experience was fundamentally based on listening and observing how people live and communicate.

“HTC has always taken a partnership-oriented, collaborative approach to business. This has led to long-standing strategic partnerships with the top software, Internet and wireless technology companies in the industry as well as the top U.S., European and Asian mobile operators,” said Jason Mackenzie, vice president of HTC America. “It is through these relationships that we have been able to deliver the world’s most diverse series of smartphones to an even more diverse group of people around the world, recognizing that customers have very different needs.”

For more information on HTC’s history of innovation, please visit: www.htc.com/history.

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  • Do Not Buy a Nexus One Until it is Fixed!

    Would be nice if when Apple loses, the court would require them to pay HTC’s legal fees. And if HTC is the guilty party, HTC pays Apple’s legal fees, in addition to other penalties. Would slow these kind of lawsuits down.

    • webby

      That’s the British legal model. It would be nice if we had it here, as it really really cuts down on all the frivolous lawsuits.

      But you’d have to kill all the lawyers to pass it — the powerful lawyer lobby would block any such practical tort reform.

  • Fyrfyter

    This is so stupid. Apple is lawsuit happy in an attempt to make money, and design more destined for failure products like the Ipad. What a total waste. Has Steve Jobs already dropped dead, or has he just run out of snazzy ideas? Here’s a new one, come up with a product that is worth the money, that everyone will want to have, and you can get rid of all this stupidity. Also, whomever said Apple copyrighted the gestures thing was wrong. Copyrights deal with things printed. Patents deal with products, and the worst of all, the fact that you can patent an idea, even if you cannot physically produce it yourself.

  • Alex

    We all know what this lawsuit is about. When you think Android you think about two companies: Google and HTC. Obviously Apple can’t go after Google, so they choose the smaller company in HTC. I don’t really know what to come of this lawsuit, it could be settled, it could drag on for years. What I do know, is that Google will not stand idly as HTC tries to defend itself from Apple. Steve doesn’t want competition that invokes innovation, he just wants the world to be renamed iEarth.

    On another note: Shouldn’t Apple be doing more important things to screw the consumer, like I dunno, banning film-based protection screens for their products?

    http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/apple-bans-protective-screen-film-from-apple-store/

    • Fyrfyter

      Painfully apparent, that Apple is forever stupid with this move. You can remove the items from the store, but if people want them, they will still get them. This is totally dumb. Short of bulletproof lexan for impact, and a scratchproof glass (doesn’t exist) you will never prevent scratches from ever occurring without some kind of protection. Every phone company out there makes a holster, a case, a screen protector — Except Apple. They are too good for that stuff. Their arrogance as a company, and the arrogance of their leader is really starting to piss me off!

  • Ez

    Htc is garbAge . They are guilty as charged . Htc better get ready to shell out some cash.

    • Usman

      You’ve obviously never used an HTC product… far from garbage. They build some of the highest quality handsets in the world.

      • DRayMIS

        Right… you mean like those Nexus One’s for AT&T showing up with f’d up screens?

    • sal

      I do not know what garbage your talking about. HTC got good product unlike apple products that lack basic features. Apple came out with a slow as phone called the iphone that has a slow as internet connection. In addition, the iphone did not support MMS till late last year. My cheap samsung phone support picture text since the early 2000S. In additon, they released a garbage product like the ipad that does not any new innovation except the big screen but I according to Steve Jobs its a revolutionary product. Revolutionary that does not support Adobe Flash. Wow that is a real internet in your pocket. Great Job apple!

    • pinguino1

      Why Apple fans are all idiots from EZ to Steve

  • RT

    God I hate Steve Jobs, I just want to punch him in his vagina.

    • Sfurules

      “In”?

      • http://palfrei.blogspot.com palfrei

        yes, he wants to get inside and punch it from within.

        He might also be person that speaks English as a second language.

        I bet he speaks Spanish, we use “in = en” for things that in English collocate with “on = sobre”

  • ron

    An employee at another Spanish security company, S21Sec, checked his recently-acquired HTC Magic and found the Mariposa malware lurking on it.”

    Mills reports, “PandaLabs connected the S21Sec employee’s microSD card to his PC and found that the smartphone was loaded with the malware on March 1, more than a week before he had received the phone from Vodafone.”

    iPhone unaffected!

    • sal

      Why don’t you read the articles that iphone was hacked by hackers and many security features were exposed and that was according to att and apple. So check your facts before you talk.

  • biasedboygenius

    this whole article by boygenius sounds like they are distancing themselves from this topic…I know its kind of hypocritical but this website is worse than both of those tech companies with its hidden agendas

    • rg

      The disclaimer at the top is to repel the repeated accusations of BGR’s Apple fanboy-ism, saying, “ok we’re not taking sides. Here’s our opinion of what this particular letter from this particular company on this particular issue sounds like.” Is this not obvious? Why would they distance themselves from it? Moreover, why would they quote the entirety of the letter, post their opinion, and then ask for yours if this was the case? Way to make something out of nothing to take a cheapshot at a blog run by 5 people.

      • jawman

        BGR FAIL

  • Alex

    ron: it was later found that the sd card was loaded with malware, not the phone.

  • realtime

    The letter should have went something like this:

    Dear Apple (Steve, Steven, Stephen Jobs and whoever else)

    FUCK YOU! SEE YOU IN COURT! BE PREPARED TO BE TOTALLY AND UTTERLY EMBARRASSED!

    Sincerely Your Friend

    HTC

    • McHale

      I’d like to sign that letter as well… So would all of my friends on XDA.

    • DRayMIS

      Yeah. Good luck with that one, douche.

  • Rich

    This lawsuit is bizzare coming from a company who stole its name from The Beatles.

  • San Francisco

    As a litigator of intellectual property disputes, including theft of ideas, to put it in layman’s terms, these press releases are what keep us awake at night.

    The client wants to publicly lash out against the opposition (in this case Apple). This conflicts with HTC’s lawyers who want to keep the client from saying anything because these statements are often a gold mine for finding incriminating statements.

    Since the client is the boss and can spout off to the press if it wants, we lawyers compromise and make a deal with the client: “If you insist on making a “PR” statement, at least let us go over it beforehand.”

    These statements end up being puff pieces rather than a detailed response to an accuser’s accusations. This statement appears that the lawyers approved it beforehand, which is a good thing.

    HTC’s legal or “real” response will be in its Answer to the complaint. This is because under the federal system an answering defendant must provide detailed responses to EACH allegation. HTC cannot simply type “deny” to the allegations contained in Apple’s complaint (see complaint below).

    So that’s why this looks more like a positive press release than a substantive response to Apple’s charges.

    Just sayin.

    http://litigationuniverse.com/apple-htc-complaint.pdf

    • pinguino1

      And your point is…

  • BrainJuice

    [Yawn]
    Am I the only one who has become bored with this whole thing.? Satan, call your demonic Steve Jos creature ack into the depths of hell, and let the rest of us live in peace and happiness. Leave us to be totally and utterly satisfied with HTC and its diversity. No longer will we be help captive by your sub par products and grandeur delusions.
    Blah blah blah…
    Anyone up for pizza.?

  • BrainJuice

    I meant Jobs not Jos.
    I also meant back not ack.

    • San Francisco

      Is your screen name a plea for some of that?

      Add to your list of what you meant:

      “thing?” not “thing.?” (lose the period).

      “held” not “help.”

      “delusions of grandeur” not “grandeur delusions.”

      “pizza?” not “pizza.?”
      :)

      • pinguino1

        Oh! Oh, Not just a liar…Oh sorry, meant lawyer, but also a linguistic expert.

        Please pardon my grammar and spelling, please.

  • Brain Juice

    @San Francisco,

    My very own personal spell check.
    Well well well, you’re not totally useless after all. :)

    Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone).

  • http://la.com raul

    i hope apple losses, they dont have a right to monopolize the smartphone industry HTC is the most innovative and creative company i have seen in years, while Apple has really stuck to what??? nothing?? umm wow Ipod Touch UI, put into Iphones, then placed into Ipads?? come on what do they take us as fools???

  • Marc

    Google should just block access to all of their content from Apple devices. After all, we wouldn’t want Apple to take advantage of anything another company innovated!

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