The International Trade Commission ruled yesterday that HTC handsets are indeed infrongign on Apple’s  patent (#5,946,647) and has imposed a ban on HTC’s infringing handset which goes into effect on April 19, 2012. While the original patent dispute brought forth by Apple names phones like the HTC EVO 4G, HTC DROID Incredible, T-Mobile G2 and [...]

The maxTouch sensors from Atmel used by HTC may soon be replaced with similar products by Synaptics or Cypress Semiconductor. HTC may be forced to change its touch-sensor supplier based on a court ruling later this week. The issue is that Atmel’s sensors use “touch ITO pattern” technology which is very similar to some of [...]

While we wish HTC and other manufacturers would simply focus on making the best phones on the market, the reality of the mobile industry is that millions of dollars are being pulled away from research and development each year to support massive armies of lawyers to battle things out on with on the patent battlefront.  [...]

The patent dispute between Apple and HTC seems to be heating up a bit.  Apple is now bringing their complain before the U.S. International Trade Commission since they plain that HTC’s infringements violate the Tariff Act of 1930: “importation into the United States and sale of certain personal data and mobile communications devices and related software that infringe patents asserted by the complainants.”

Though the patent dispute has barely begun, the U.S. International Trade Commission has the right to bar the importation of HTC products into the U.S. market based on the patent dispute.  Apple has requested that the commission “issue an exclusion order and a cease and desist order.”  At this moment, the commission has not made any rulings on the matter, but there are evidentiary hearings already scheduled.  Once the procession begins, the commission has 45 days to schedule a target completion date, no matter what the outcome. 

If Apple does win this claim against HTC with the U.S. International Trade Commission, sales of HTC products in the U.S. would come to a halt. We’re still unclear on why Apple is specifically targeting HTC and their products when all the other Android producing manufacturers could be lumped into the patent claim as well.  Clearly, HTC is seen as one of the biggest threats to Apple’s iPhone market share. 

Source: Total Telecom