Apple har lämnat in en stämningsansökan mot HTC som avser ett tjog patentintrång och kräver i processen att samtliga av HTC:s telefonmodeller som omfattas av dessa patent skall beläggas med import- och försäljningsförbud. Om detta beviljas så blir det en hård smäll för HTC vars samtliga telefonmodeller verkar omfattas av Apples patent.

Patenten i fråga avser en stor och bred mängd funktionalitet och vissa gäller internationellt och andra bara i USA – allt från strömsparningsfunktioner till funktioner som berör multitouch och gränssnittet omfattas. Det är många som gått runt och väntat på Apples svar sedan allt fler och fler tillverkare börjat implementera multitouchteknik bland sina telefoner och det kom onekligen med besked. Vi återkommer med mer information så snart vi vet mer exakt vilka funktioner patenten berör och var man menar att HTC gör intrång på dessa.

Steve Jobs har även uttalat sig i frågan och hade följande att säga om saken:
-”We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”

Här följer listan över patent som Apple menar att HTC gör intrång på:

The ‘331 Patent, entitled “Time-Based, Non-Constant Translation Of User Interface Objects Between States,” was duly and legally issued on April 22, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office

The ‘949 Patent, entitled “Touch Screen Device, Method, And Graphical User Interface For Determining Commands By Applying Heuristics,” was duly and legally issued on January 20, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘949 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit B.

The ‘849 Patent, entitled “Unlocking A Device By Performing Gestures On An Unlock Image,” was duly and legally issued on February 2, 2010 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘849 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit C.

The ‘381 Patent, entitled “List Scrolling And Document Translation, Scaling, And Rotation On A Touch-Screen Display,” was duly and legally issued on December 23, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘381 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit D.

The ‘726 Patent, entitled “System And Method For Managing Power Conditions Within A Digital Camera Device,” was duly and legally issued on July 6, 1999 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘726 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit E.

The ‘076 Patent, entitled “Automated Response To And Sensing Of User Activity In Portable Devices,” was duly and legally issued on December 15, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘076 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit F.

The ‘105 Patent, entitled “GMSK Signal Processors For Improved Communications Capacity And Quality,” was duly and legally issued on December 8, 1998 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘105 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit G.

The ‘453 Patent, entitled “Conserving Power By Reducing Voltage Supplied To An Instruction-Processing Portion Of A Processor,” was duly and legally issued on June 3, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘453 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit H.

The ‘599 Patent, entitled “Object-Oriented Graphic System,” was duly and legally issued on October 3, 1995 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘599 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit I.

The ‘354 Patent, entitled “Object-Oriented Event Notification System With Listener Registration Of Both Interests And Methods,” was duly and legally issued on July 23, 2002 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘354 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit J.

United States Patent No. 5,481,721 entitled ”Method for Providing Automatic and Dynamic Translation of Object Oriented Programming Language-Based Message Passing Into Operation System Message Passing Using Proxy Objects,” issued on January 2, 1996…

United States Patent No. 5,519,867 entitled ”Object-Oriented Multitasking System,” issued on May 21, 1996…

United States Patent No. 6,275,983 entitled ”Object-Oriented Operating System,” issued on August 14, 2001…

United States Patent No. 5,566,337 entitled ”Method and Apparatus for Distributing Events in an Operating System,” issued on October 15, 1996…

United States Patent No. 5,929,852 entitled ”Encapsulated Network Entity Reference of a Network Component System,” issued on July 27, 1999…

United States Patent No. 5,946,647 entitled ”System and Method for Performing an Action on a Structure in Computer-Generated Data” issued on August 31, 1999…

United States Patent No. 5,969,705 entitled ”Message Protocol for Controlling a User Interface From an Inactive Application Program,” issued on October 19, 1999…

United States Patent No. 6,343,263 entitled ”Real-Time Signal Processing System for Serially Transmitted Data,” issued on January 29, 2002…

United States Patent No. 5,915,131 entitled ”Method and Apparatus for Handling I/O Requests Utilizing Separate Programming Interfaces to Access Separate I/O Service” issued on June 22, 1999…

United States Patent No. RE39,486, entitled ”Extensible, Replaceable Network Component System,” reissued on February 6, 2007…

Genom gizmodo – tack alla er som tipsade!