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"True, but my question is, why not go after HTC et al sooner?" Nobody sues if they can avoid it. Lawsuits are extremely expensive, and companies will exhaust a
by frederickcook 17y ago
"True, but my question is, why not go after HTC et al sooner?"
Nobody sues if they can avoid it. Lawsuits are extremely expensive, and companies will exhaust all other options first. The lawsuit means Apple demanded more than HTC was willing to pay, and decided they would fair better in court.
Also, "iPhone knockoffs" doesn't necessarily mean patent infringements. Without doing in-depth research into the specific claims infringed, you can't say for sure whether any infringement took place.
Patents and patent law are incredibly complicated. There is no simple answer to _why_.
- boucher 17y agoWhile that may be logical, it may not be true in this instance. Apple has a track record of filing lawsuits it knows it almost certainly won't win. I don't think they're afraid of losing money on a lawsuit.
- GHFigs 17y agoApple has a track record of filing lawsuits it knows it almost certainly won't win. Examples?
- vetinari 17y agoWell, starting with the famous UI lawsuit... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Computer,_Inc._v._Microsoft_Corporation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Computer,_Inc._v._Microso...
- GHFigs 17y agoThat's an example where they didn't win, but I know of no reason to think that they knew they certainly wouldn't. It was definitely not obvious at the time that copyright could not apply to interfaces as a whole, and Microsoft's prior consent to a licensing arrangement suggests that both parties had at one time considered it a real possibility. I'm not saying Apple should have won or that that case isn't in some ways relevant--only that it wasn't certain that they would lose.