In yet another insane legal issue involving Apple, the U.S. International Trade Commission will review a judge’s previous ruling that Apple infringes on 3G patents owned by Google (within the Motorola Mobility division) in the iPhone and iPad. The worst case scenario for the Cupertino-based company is a ban on U.S. imports of both devices.
The ITC is scheduled to publicly announce its final decision on the matter August 24th, which will then decide the fate of the iPhone and iPad. Such a ban would be absolutely catastrophic to Apple’s revenue since they combined account for 78 percent of it, but I remain extremely skeptical that something this devastating to the company could possibly take place.
I’m reminded of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s interview at D10 this year with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. He said that while Apple does frequently sue over patents it owns, it never sues over standards people must incorporate into products to make them function. That’s the problem with the U.S. patent system today — it allows people to patent these types of general technologies. Thus, Apple claims that if it was to avoid using Google’s 3G patents, it’d be impossible to manufacture the iPhone or iPad.
Though it was recently reported this way by other sources, Google is not filing an injunction against Apple at this time. It’s the ITC itself that, once reviewing Judge Thomas Pender’s earlier ruling, would have the power to block the selling of these iOS devices in America.