HTC accusata da Apple di aver infranto oltre 20 brevetti

Era questione di tempo per la lotta tra Apple e HTC. Il gigante di Cupertino ha accusato HTC di aver infranto oltre 20 brevetti soprattutto con l’arrivo di Android e dell’implementazione di alcune funzionalità nel sistema Google (pensiamo al multitouch in primis).

“Non vogliamo piu stare a sedere e guardare i concorrenti rubare le nostre invenzioni brevettate e abbiamo deciso di fare qualcosa.” ha affermato Steve Jobs, CEO di Apple. ”Pensiamo che la concorrenza sia sana, ma i concorrenti devono creare la propria tecnologia originale, non rubare la nostra“.

Parole forti che potrebbero aprire la strada per una lunghissima causa. Non manca ovviamente la risposta della casa Cinese che in queste ore sta cercando di rilasciare dichiarazioni in proposito.

Abbiamo saputo solo ora delle azioni di Apple, sulla base comunicazioni e comunicati stampa di Cupertino. Non siamo ancora nella posizione di commentare le affermazioni e di fare dichiarazioni. Noi rispettiamo i diritti di brevetto e di valore, ma siamo impegnati a difendere le nostre innovazioni. Siamo stati innovativi e la nostra tecnologia ha propri brevetti da 13 anni.

Questa la risposta di HTC.

Purtroppo Apple sembra molto agguerrita e ha presentato oltre 700 pagine al Tribunale distrettuale per avvalorare la propria tesi. Inoltre, la denuncia elenca una serie di telefoni HTC, tra cui il Nexus One, Touch Pro, Touch Diamond, Touch Pro2, Tilt II, Pure, Imagio, Dream/G1, myTouch 3G, Hero, HD2 e Droid Eris. È praticamente la gamma completa di telefoni HTC, sia con Android che Windows Mobile, con e senza interfaccia Sense/TouchFLO.

Questi alcuni dei brevetti infranti secondo Apple:

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.

La battaglia è quindi iniziata… vedremo come andrà a finire.

Piccolo Aggiornamento: sembra che le “patenti” infrante riguarderebbero solo gli States e gli smartphone presenti nel territorio USA. E qui torna il pensiero all’esordio di Android e ad alcuni dispositivi che ad oggi non hanno multitouch rispetto a modelli uguali Europei (Nexus One all’inizio, Droid/Milestone)…