Apple wins ITC ruling against rival HTC

United States

Sophie Roberts - Staff Writer

Apple has won a patent ruling which will see some HTC smartphone models banned in the US, strengthening Apple's efforts to prove that some devices running Google's Android system copy that of the iPhone.

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that HTC has infringed one of the four patents Apple disputed, which relates to data-detection technology. The six-member commission issued a limited import exclusion order which will take effect 19 April 2012.

In response to the ruling, Grace Lei, general counsel for the Taiwan-based technology giant said that, "HTC will completely remove [the infringing patent] from all of our phones soon".

Among the HTC phones at risk of being blocked in the US are the Nexus One, Touch Pro, Diamond, Tilt II, Dream, MyTouch, Hero and Droid Eris, according to Apple's original complaint.

However, the ban is subject to appeal by HTC and a review by President Obama that could delay the enforcement date of 19 April 2012.

Commenting on the ruling and the future of HTC, Florian Mueller, IP analyst and blogger, said that, "this ruling falls far short of anything [that] would force HTC out of the US market in the near term.

"Also, out of ten patents originally asserted, Apple finally prevailed on only one. Apple will need a higher "hit rate" in the future, and it will have to enforce patents that are greatly more impactful than this one."

Apple has a second complaint pending before the commission that claims other HTC smartphones and Flyer tablet computers infringe five patents related to software architecture and user interfaces. Apple also has cases before the trade commission and in District Courts against Samsung and Motorola Mobility, which Google agreed to acquire in August.