Hasta La Gadget!

Yesterday we mentioned that a UK court had ruled HTC wasn’t infringing on a key Apple patent in the patent infringement row between the two companies. The UK court did uphold the Apple patent was valid, but found HTC didn’t infringe on said patent. The High Court in London came to the ruling yesterday and deemed three other Apple patents invalid covering slide to unlock, multitouch, and a multilingual keyboard.

It’s unclear if this legal precedent might affect any case is between Apple and HTC in America. HTC has issued a statement saying that it was pleased with the court’s ruling. The UK judge ruled other Apple patents invalid stating the multitouch patent was invalid citing “obviousness over common general knowledge.”

“HTC is pleased with the ruling, which provides further confirmation that Apple’s claims against HTC are without merit,” the company said in a statement.

“We remain disappointed that Apple continues to favour competition in the courtroom over competition in the marketplace.”

An Apple spokesperson didn’t offer specific comments on the UK ruling but did add, “we think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.” This is certainly not the last patent battle will see between Apple and technology companies around the world. In fact, there are still a number of patent wars raging right now.

[via AFP]

HTC is happy about victory over Apple in UK is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Apple versus HTC war started way back in 2010, with the Cupertino-based tech giant filing its first ITC complaint against the Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer. It was widely known as the first ever lawsuit filed against an Android device manufacturer. Today, the battle for supremacy continues, as Apple, dubbed as the “patent troll”, takes the lawsuit to the U.K. However, it seems that HTC is winning the duel this time around. Bloomberg is reporting that Judge Christopher Floyd has ruled that HTC did not infringe Apple’s four patents and added that three of those patents are actually invalid.

The four patents that Apple accused HTC of infringing include the slide-to-unlock feature, software allowing users to touch the screen in two spots simultaneously, and tools used to scroll through photographs and change alphabets. The court ruled that Apple’s photo-management patent is valid but it determined that HTC did not infringe it. “Competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours,” Apple said in a statement. On the other hand, HTC spokesperson Andrea Sommer said that HTC is  disappointed that Apple continues to favor competition in the courtroom over competition in the marketplace.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Nokia sues HTC, RIM and ViewSonic for allegedly infringing upon 45 of its patents, Nokia and HTC win in European patent case,

Various phone companies are trading blows in the courts over alleged patent infringements, and a new ruling out of the UK shows that HTC doesn’t infringe Apple’s patents. Apple took HTC to court in the UK over four patents, although the judge in the case, Christopher Floyd, ruled that three of those patents are invalid. Bloomberg reports that while Apple’s final patent is valid, HTC doesn’t infringe on it on current devices.

Apple’s patents related to slide-to-unlock, scrolling through photos, changing the keyboard alphabet, and the ability to touch two spots on the screen simultaneously. Judge Floyd ruled that three of those patents are invalid. The photo patent, while valid, hasn’t been infringed by HTC.

Cupertino didn’t specifically comment on today’s ruling, but did issue a statement via email: “Competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.” A spokeswoman for HTC says that the company is pleased with the verdict, but that “we remain disappointed that Apple continues to favor competition in the courtroom over competition in the marketplace.” The same four patents are due to be scrutinized by a German court later in the year.

Apple, meanwhile, has seen better success against Samsung in the United States. The company recently scored a ban against the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Nexus. Both companies are also due to enter court relating to patent and design infringements on July 30th.

UK court rules HTC doesn’t infringe on Apple’s patents is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We’ve heard rumors over the past few months that HTC had bought MOG, and today the news surfaced that it has finally become official. HTC, through its subsidiary Beats Audio, has bought up MOG for $14 million. This number is a little surprising at first since MOG raised $33 million throughout its entire existence. The low number could be the result of Beats Audio splitting up MOG into two separate companies. Beats will take control of the core audio service while the ad and music blog will remain how it currently is. This was definitely a win for HTC as it will give it  them the much needed dedicated music service so that they can compete with Samsung’s Music Hub app and Apple’s iCloud. If HTC correctly integrates MOG’s services into its devices along with Beats Audio, it could be a great combination that would give customers another reason to buy their phones. What do you think? Would things like this be a deciding factor when purchasing a smartphone?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Beats Electronics’ Jimmy Iovine expresses interest in music subscription services, HTC rumored to have bought MOG, a music subscription service,

Good news for US Cellular customers, the HTC One V is now available for purchase. It will set you back $130 after a $100 mail-in-rebate and assuming that your qualified for a new two year contract. If you do not wist to be committed to a contract, the device can still be yours for $250 on US Cellular’s pre-paid plan. If you aren’t on US Cellular but still like the device, you can get it from Virgin Mobile for $199.99 with a two year contract and the device is heading to Metro PCS as well.

If you are unfamiliar with the HTC One V, it features Android 4.0 ICS with HTC Sense 4.0, a 1GHz single-core processor, 512 MB of RAM, a 3.7-inch display, a 5 megapixel camera in the rear, and Beats Audio built-in. If you are a US Cellular customer, are you planning on getting the HTC One V? If so are you going the contract route or pre-paid? Let us know in the comments section below.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: HTC One V coming to the US this summer, HTC One V video debuts,