Actually they are wins against Android. Apple has taken the fight to the individual manufacturers/shippers who clearly have revenue related to the patents.
A win against HTC, if upheld, is almost as good as a win in all the yet to be filed suits against everyone else who used the same patented tech. Apple is working for a couple strategic patent wins that set the precedent for the rest of the cases that will be all but auto-wins because of the precedents.
A loss by any of the Android shippers will be highly correlated to the results of lawsuits against any of the rest. Apple will eventually decide if they want to go after Google for contributory infringement, and the results and precedents from the Oracle-Google Java-Android case will show how the wind blows for the success/failure of a direct assault, especially since oracle-Google will provide direct precedent on contributory infringement of providing Android to OEMs and how much of Googles indirect mobile Android/related advertising revenue is allowed to be vulnerable in the damages phase.
Though it's Android 1.6-2.2, so by the time they go into effect, they'll be completely irrelevant.
That's just legal technical-ese. I expect Apple will have to amend or file some new suit to cover the Android versions that came out post original filing. No judge in the US would allow a blind suit against all possible derivations before infringement by a current version was yet established.
So in effect the suit currently says absolutely nothing about Android 2.3 or later only because that's forced by procedure, not any look at the merits. Now that the merits of the infringement are settled, it becomes fairly straightforward to apply them against 2.3 and later via more procedural grinding through the system.
I would be surprised if at some point in the next few weeks Apple doesn't ask for an injunction against all future versions of HTC Android phones until those phones can be demonstrated to the court that the infringement is removed/worked around.
That's just legal technical-ese. I expect Apple will have to amend or file some new suit to cover the Android versions that came out post original filing. No judge in the US would allow a blind suit against all possible derivations before infringement by a current version was yet established.
So in effect the suit currently says absolutely nothing about Android 2.3 or later only because that's forced by procedure, not any look at the merits. Now that the merits of the infringement are settled, it becomes fairly straightforward to apply them against 2.3 and later via more procedural grinding through the system.
I would be surprised if at some point in the next few weeks Apple doesn't ask for an injunction against all future versions of HTC Android phones until those phones can be demonstrated to the court that the infringement is removed/worked around.
I don't think that would be a fast process relative to how quickly software and devices are updated. It may not be worth the effort on Apple's part with any kind of determination being months from now. It would be unlikely to have much practical effect.
I don't think that would be a fast process relative to how quickly software and devices are updated. It may not be worth the effort on Apple's part with any kind of determination being months from now. It would be unlikely to have much practical effect.
Only the lawyers know for sure, but Apple doesn't seem to be put off by the length of the proceedings so far. Also, having this ruling would put future directly related issues on a far faster track than the original filing, maybe even quick enough to expand the April injunction.
Comments
A win against HTC, if upheld, is almost as good as a win in all the yet to be filed suits against everyone else who used the same patented tech. Apple is working for a couple strategic patent wins that set the precedent for the rest of the cases that will be all but auto-wins because of the precedents.
A loss by any of the Android shippers will be highly correlated to the results of lawsuits against any of the rest. Apple will eventually decide if they want to go after Google for contributory infringement, and the results and precedents from the Oracle-Google Java-Android case will show how the wind blows for the success/failure of a direct assault, especially since oracle-Google will provide direct precedent on contributory infringement of providing Android to OEMs and how much of Googles indirect mobile Android/related advertising revenue is allowed to be vulnerable in the damages phase.
Actually they are wins against Android.
Indeed, I seem to have been mistaken.
Though it's Android 1.6-2.2, so by the time they go into effect, they'll be completely irrelevant.
Indeed, I seem to have been mistaken.
Though it's Android 1.6-2.2, so by the time they go into effect, they'll be completely irrelevant.
That's just legal technical-ese. I expect Apple will have to amend or file some new suit to cover the Android versions that came out post original filing. No judge in the US would allow a blind suit against all possible derivations before infringement by a current version was yet established.
So in effect the suit currently says absolutely nothing about Android 2.3 or later only because that's forced by procedure, not any look at the merits. Now that the merits of the infringement are settled, it becomes fairly straightforward to apply them against 2.3 and later via more procedural grinding through the system.
I would be surprised if at some point in the next few weeks Apple doesn't ask for an injunction against all future versions of HTC Android phones until those phones can be demonstrated to the court that the infringement is removed/worked around.
That's just legal technical-ese. I expect Apple will have to amend or file some new suit to cover the Android versions that came out post original filing. No judge in the US would allow a blind suit against all possible derivations before infringement by a current version was yet established.
So in effect the suit currently says absolutely nothing about Android 2.3 or later only because that's forced by procedure, not any look at the merits. Now that the merits of the infringement are settled, it becomes fairly straightforward to apply them against 2.3 and later via more procedural grinding through the system.
I would be surprised if at some point in the next few weeks Apple doesn't ask for an injunction against all future versions of HTC Android phones until those phones can be demonstrated to the court that the infringement is removed/worked around.
I don't think that would be a fast process relative to how quickly software and devices are updated. It may not be worth the effort on Apple's part with any kind of determination being months from now. It would be unlikely to have much practical effect.
I don't think that would be a fast process relative to how quickly software and devices are updated. It may not be worth the effort on Apple's part with any kind of determination being months from now. It would be unlikely to have much practical effect.
Only the lawyers know for sure, but Apple doesn't seem to be put off by the length of the proceedings so far. Also, having this ruling would put future directly related issues on a far faster track than the original filing, maybe even quick enough to expand the April injunction.
Either way, we're gonna need more popcorn.