Google's Eric Schmidt vows to defend HTC against Apple

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Google's Schmidt vows to defend HTC

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt says his company will support key Android partner HTC in its patent fight with Apple.

Schmidt, speaking at a Google mobile conference in Tokyo today, expressed confidence that HTC will ultimately prevail over Apple, ZDNet Asia reports.

"We have seen an explosion of Android devices entering the market and, because of our successes, competitors are responding with lawsuits as they cannot respond through innovations," he said. "I'm not too worried about this."

When asked about potentially providing financial support should HTC lose, Schmidt said: "We will make sure they don't lose, then."

Schmidt declined to provide details on how Google will aid the Taiwanese smartphone maker. But Schmidt's support provides some reassurance following an initial legal victory for Apple against HTC and, by extension, all other Android OS smartphone partners.

On Friday, a U.S. International Trade Commission administrative law judge issued an initial ruling that HTC violated two key patents owned by Apple. The decision was a blow to HTC, dragging its stock to a six-month low in Taiwan trading yesterday and raising uncertainty about the company.

If the ITC's full panel makes a final decision that goes against HTC, the company could face a ban on importing its smartphones.

More importantly, the two patents are seen as crucial to Android and could potentially affect other handset manufacturers. Samsung Electronics is already in a patent fight against Apple.

HTC has said it plans to appeal the initial judgment, although legal experts say overturning an administrative law judge's ruling is rare.

The company has also taken steps to defend itself, spending $300 million to buy S3 Graphics and its collection of patents. Apple is in violation of patents owned by S3, according to a separate initial ruling from the ITC.

Source: cnet News

[capr]

wonder how the future will remember this time of our history.... will they make fun of us for not joining forces and staying greedy? or will they condone these silly patent battles between giant companies.

[HawkMan]

"We have seen an explosion of Android devices entering the market and, because of our successes, competitors are responding with lawsuits as they cannot respond through innovations," he said. "I'm not too worried about this."

Yet, the REASON, HTC is beign sued by Apple, and ispaying licensing to Microsoft for every android phone, and to other phone makers unless they have cross licensing deals, is because everything in Android is copied from other devices...

I guess Eric is just annoyied the competitors isn't innovating new stuff he can rip off already ;)

[Elliott]

They know that if HTC loses this, then every other Android manufacturer is going to lose as well. It's a pretty big deal.

[HawkMan]

They know that if HTC loses this, then every other Android manufacturer is going to lose as well. It's a pretty big deal.

They shoudl have just taken licens money and provided umbrella patent protection from the start instead of pushing the illusion it's a free OS.

[revvo]

Yet, the REASON, HTC is beign sued by Apple, and ispaying licensing to Microsoft for every android phone, and to other phone makers unless they have cross licensing deals, is because everything in Android is copied from other devices...

I guess Eric is just annoyied the competitors isn't innovating new stuff he can rip off already ;)

No, the reason any company is being sued by Apple is because Apple hates losing in a market it previously dominated in.

You want to talk about innovative features? RIM/BlackBerry had device tethering, copy/paste and other basic features like multi-threaded apps before iOS. Basic features that Apple tout as "INNOVATIVE BREAKTHROUGH" through its marketing/cult-like practices.

[.Neo]

Of course Google will, it's a huge problem for them as well.

[presence06]

No, the reason any company is being sued by Apple is because Apple hates losing in a market it previously dominated in.

You want to talk about innovative features? RIM/BlackBerry had device tethering, copy/paste and other basic features like multi-threaded apps before iOS. Basic features that Apple tout as "INNOVATIVE BREAKTHROUGH" through its marketing/cult-like practices.

And the slogan "Need to have this, you want this" propaganda. Why can't/couldn't RIM go after Apple for patent infringing? Or did Apple pay royalties to RIM/RIM doesn't own those patents...

[jakem1]

Seems like too little too late but I don't know why Apple didn't just follow Microsoft's lead and have Android OEMs pay licensing fees rather than going to court. Of course, if Google had just done the right thing in the first place nobody would have ended up in this situation.

[tsupersonic]

Thank God, it's about time Google stepped in. I hope they can take down Apple.

[revvo]

And the slogan "Need to have this, you want this" propaganda. Why can't/couldn't RIM go after Apple for patent infringing? Or did Apple pay royalties to RIM/RIM doesn't own those patents...

Who says those are patents? The patent system is idiotic to begin with for allowing the patent of software ideologies. You should be able to patent a specific process, not something as general as copy/paste that can be done in several ways.

[BajiRav]

No, the reason any company is being sued by Apple is because Apple hates losing in a market it previously dominated in.

You want to talk about innovative features? RIM/BlackBerry had device tethering, copy/paste and other basic features like multi-threaded apps before iOS. Basic features that Apple tout as "INNOVATIVE BREAKTHROUGH" through its marketing/cult-like practices.

that doesn't make any difference, I doubt RIM has any basic OS/file operations patents.

[Unix2]

Thank God, it's about time Google stepped in. I hope they can take down Apple.

That will never happen, Apple owns the patents so, Apple is a powerhouse in the mobile market.

[presence06]

Who says those are patents? The patent system is idiotic to begin with for allowing the patent of software ideologies. You should be able to patent a specific process, not something as general as copy/paste that can be done in several ways.

I don't understand all the patents, who owns what or whatever. I was just wondering. Seems Apple patents everything now days just to collect them and hold them hostage waiting for someone who use them and fire their lawyer missiles at them.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

everything in Android is copied from other devices...

Drivel!

[neo158]

I don't understand all the patents, who owns what or whatever. I was just wondering. Seems Apple patents everything now days just to collect them and hold them hostage waiting for someone who use them and fire their lawyer missiles at them.

This is exactly what "patent trolls" do and that's exactly what Apple is!!!

[HSoft]

Drivel!

really? What innovative things does Android?

I own an android device and really like it (bar the bugs) but can't see anything innovative about it at all.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

What innovative things does Android?

Answered this too many times to type it all out. I also don't feel overly inclined to bother fully responding to such a bias statement.

Same can be said of any OS. Any single feature is only "innovative" until the industry adopts it as a whole. Way it always has been, way it should be, not the way Apple see's things.

[Elliott]

I don't understand all the patents, who owns what or whatever. I was just wondering. Seems Apple patents everything now days just to collect them and hold them hostage waiting for someone who use them and fire their lawyer missiles at them.

The "missiles" that Apple are firing are from patents that they do actively use in their products. They do also have patents that they don't use, but I haven't seen any legal action based off of those yet and I wouldn't be surprised if Apple did use them in their products eventually.

Drivel!

Android would probably look like BlackBerry OS (just look at the original screenshots) if iOS hadn't been released. Just sayin'.

That's not to say iOS hasn't copied anything either. Apple has certainly borrowed inspiration from the other mobile platforms, but nothing like the major shift in Android pre-'07 until launch in '08. It's pretty easy to see why Steve Jobs was ****ed at Eric Schmidt.

[.Neo]

Of course, if Google had just done the right thing in the first place nobody would have ended up in this situation.

You couldn't be more off-track even if you tried to. Everyone on Neowin knows that Apple is always wrong and the bad guy no matter what happens. Every company has the right to protect their intellectual property, except for Apple. It's common knowledge around here really.

:rofl:

[Growled Member]

I'm not sure Google can provide HTC any help now. It seems too little, too late to me.

[HawkMan]

Answered this too many times to type it all out. I also don't feel overly inclined to bother fully responding to such a bias statement.

Same can be said of any OS. Any single feature is only "innovative" until the industry adopts it as a whole. Way it always has been, way it should be, not the way Apple see's things.

Speaking of...

Personally, I've used Android across a few devices, currently on WP7 despite being in a country with no official support until fall, and I use iOS through my new iPad (which is going in for service since the unbreakable glass broke)

And I didn't say android copied everything from Apple, because they copied very little from Apple. BUT. Android is anything but innovative, the only company who's less innovative is Apple, which seems to have stagnated in an small steps evolution limbo. I'm not saying Android is a bad OS, cause it's not, but it's not really innovative.

[tsupersonic]

That will never happen, Apple owns the patents so, Apple is a powerhouse in the mobile market.

Your fanboyism is showing...I find it ironic that Apple goes to great lengths to sue all these Android manufacturers yet their newest mobile OS steals so much from Android (and other OS's). As Steve said himself, 2011 is the year of copycats, only to refer to themselves! :rofl: Apple has now been playing catch up in terms of features for quite some time, even though you ios fanboys won't admit it.

[presence06]

Your fanboyism is showing...I find it ironic that Apple goes to great lengths to sue all these Android manufacturers yet their newest mobile OS steals so much from Android (and other OS's). As Steve said himself, 2011 is the year of copycats, only to refer to themselves! :rofl: Apple has now been playing catch up in terms of features for quite some time, even though you ios fanboys won't admit it.

Hasn't everyone said in the past, even with iPhone 3G that Apple is playing catch-up. Not so much with Android (as much as now) but just playing catch-up with say BB?

[DukeEsquire]

No, the reason any company is being sued by Apple is because Apple hates losing in a market it previously dominated in.

You want to talk about innovative features? RIM/BlackBerry had device tethering, copy/paste and other basic features like multi-threaded apps before iOS. Basic features that Apple tout as "INNOVATIVE BREAKTHROUGH" through its marketing/cult-like practices.

There is a difference between having a feature and executing said feature.

Windows has the mobile market locked up with WM, but their execution was awful. I've owned touchscreen phones for over 2 years before the first iPhone was announced.

My phone was made by HTC. It had a dual core processor (running at a blistering 233 mhz), slide out keyboard, touchscreen, bluetooth, wifi and EDGE, copy and paste, and wireless syncing.

But, while it was feature rich, the execution was awful.

I had to install a cooked rom because the phone was so laggy.

I had to re-calibrate the resisitive screen twice a day.

I had to hack apps to get them to install correctly.

Overall, the experience was pretty bad.

I would gladly drop many features to get better execution.