As the patent wars continues, HTC, in its patent suit against Apple, received some encouraging news from a U.S. Judge. This U.S. trade judge gave the impression that Apple may struggle to invalidate patents owned by HTC, which is leverage the Taiwanese based manufacturer can use to help ban the new iPad and the upcoming iPhone 5.
If you don’t know the skinny on the HTC patent dispute against Apple, then allow me to catch you up to speed. The Taiwanese phone maker is suing the Cupertino based tech giant for allegedly infringing on two of its 4G technology patents. Of course, this came after Apple had initiated the first shot in 2010, with infringement claims of its own. However, Apple has a real problem on its hands with 4G LTE technology, as the company’s war chest of patents seems to be on the light side of covering this kind of tech.
Keep in mind, HTC isn’t the only manufacturer going after the maker of all iProducts in regards to 4G LTE technologies. Samsung is also rumored to be plotting revenge on Apple in its own suit if the new iPhone carries LTE, as the company holds a substantial amount of patents for this kind of technology. In fact, Samsung owns approximately 10 percent of patents related to long-term evolution, or LTE technology.
That being said, maybe this will be the moment were both companies can come to the table and hash out a licensing deal. Hell, even Google is looking to remedy its patent issues with Apple, as its CEO met with Tim Cook not too long ago.
[via cnet]