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Karma: https://www.zdnet.com/article/apple-gets-u-s-ban-on-htc-android-phones-sales-for-now/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/apple-gets-u-s-ban-on-htc-andr...

tremarley 3y ago
HTC probably lost out on billions due to this
- dralley 3y ago
  HTC practically ceased to exist as a consumer facing company in the West due to this. I don't know of any hardware they've produced recently outside of their partnership with Valve on VR, and they're not the face of that relationship.
  - hedora 3y ago
    That article says they spun a new firmware almost immediately. I hadn’t heard of that case (Apple patents using computers to process structured data), but I thought some other thing did a much better job of screwing HTC over.
  - dagmx 3y ago
    I feel like you’re exaggerating the impact of this single case on HTC’s long term viability . The article says they rectified the issue in software right away. HTC died off in the US for many other reasons, I severely doubt this was one of them given it could be software rectified. HTC continued to make many phones ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_HTC_devices?wprov=sfti1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_HTC_devices?wpro... ) after this before being bought by Google ( https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/20/16340108/google-htc-smartphone-team-acquisition-announced https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/20/16340108/google-htc-smart... ) What killed of HTC’s mobile division was the inability to compete in the market against Google, Samsung and Motorola. I’m sure this case hurt some but given how quickly it was fixed, the import ban was likely very short lived. Especially because they had new phones available almost immediately after.
  - squarefoot 3y ago
    My first (and last) smartphone was a HTC Desire, and I wished HTC died before the day I would shell out over 500€ for that piece of smoking crap. It needed the mainboard to be swapped not one but two times under warranty before it could be used for more than 1 minute without rebooting (apparently a well known overheating problem) then, months after warranty expired, it suddenly died beyond any recover to became my most expensive paperweight. I know I'm just an unfortunate drop in the sea, still I don't miss their products at all.
  - midtake 3y ago
    HTC probably lost the phone game due to Samsung existing more than anything else.
Racing0461 3y ago
This was back when steve jobs was suing anyone making rounded corner phones right? The apple watch patent seems like an actual thing.
- stouset 3y ago
  Design patents are an actual thing and they cover extremely specific features of an object’s physical design.
- skygazer 3y ago
  Maybe? The two violated patent claims are "a protrusion comprising opaque material configured to substantially prevent light piping" and "one or more chamfered edges" of the protrusion, on a patent titled “User-worn device for noninvasively measuring a physiological parameter of a user.” It doesn’t appear anything that HN users would consider technology related was involved, and despite the palpable sense of Schadenfreude here, if it had happened to a company other than Apple, we’d probably be more sympathetic. The patent’s claims seem likely to be further invalidated once it gets to court, but the timing unfolded to Apple’s disadvantage. (Or maybe not, as they managed to hold everything off until after Christmas sales were completed, and maybe managed to get a bump out of the pending ban.) I generally feel no sympathy or outrage for Apples patent strife. They are often a target not so much because of their bad acts but because they’re wealthy and a big potential payday, but they’re also wealthy enough to defend their interests and the expenses are just the cost of doing business. (Although they are usually much better at preventing this level of chaos, but they pissed off a billionaire by hiring his top staff, so there’s that.)
  - AlbertCory 3y ago
    Patent titles have no effect on anything. I have several with the exact same titles, and they're all different.
    - skygazer 3y ago
      Yes, they’re always vague. Maybe I should have omitted it so as not to confuse. To be clearer, the cited claims are the issue.
srj 3y ago
The patent on clicking a phone number to dial it was particularly absurd.

tremarley 3y ago

HTC probably lost out on billions due to this

dralley 3y ago
HTC practically ceased to exist as a consumer facing company in the West due to this. I don't know of any hardware they've produced recently outside of their partnership with Valve on VR, and they're not the face of that relationship.
- hedora 3y ago
  That article says they spun a new firmware almost immediately. I hadn’t heard of that case (Apple patents using computers to process structured data), but I thought some other thing did a much better job of screwing HTC over.
- dagmx 3y ago
  I feel like you’re exaggerating the impact of this single case on HTC’s long term viability . The article says they rectified the issue in software right away. HTC died off in the US for many other reasons, I severely doubt this was one of them given it could be software rectified. HTC continued to make many phones ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_HTC_devices?wprov=sfti1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_HTC_devices?wpro... ) after this before being bought by Google ( https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/20/16340108/google-htc-smartphone-team-acquisition-announced https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/20/16340108/google-htc-smart... ) What killed of HTC’s mobile division was the inability to compete in the market against Google, Samsung and Motorola. I’m sure this case hurt some but given how quickly it was fixed, the import ban was likely very short lived. Especially because they had new phones available almost immediately after.
- squarefoot 3y ago
  My first (and last) smartphone was a HTC Desire, and I wished HTC died before the day I would shell out over 500€ for that piece of smoking crap. It needed the mainboard to be swapped not one but two times under warranty before it could be used for more than 1 minute without rebooting (apparently a well known overheating problem) then, months after warranty expired, it suddenly died beyond any recover to became my most expensive paperweight. I know I'm just an unfortunate drop in the sea, still I don't miss their products at all.
- midtake 3y ago
  HTC probably lost the phone game due to Samsung existing more than anything else.

Racing0461 3y ago

This was back when steve jobs was suing anyone making rounded corner phones right? The apple watch patent seems like an actual thing.

stouset 3y ago
Design patents are an actual thing and they cover extremely specific features of an object’s physical design.
skygazer 3y ago
Maybe? The two violated patent claims are "a protrusion comprising opaque material configured to substantially prevent light piping" and "one or more chamfered edges" of the protrusion, on a patent titled “User-worn device for noninvasively measuring a physiological parameter of a user.” It doesn’t appear anything that HN users would consider technology related was involved, and despite the palpable sense of Schadenfreude here, if it had happened to a company other than Apple, we’d probably be more sympathetic. The patent’s claims seem likely to be further invalidated once it gets to court, but the timing unfolded to Apple’s disadvantage. (Or maybe not, as they managed to hold everything off until after Christmas sales were completed, and maybe managed to get a bump out of the pending ban.) I generally feel no sympathy or outrage for Apples patent strife. They are often a target not so much because of their bad acts but because they’re wealthy and a big potential payday, but they’re also wealthy enough to defend their interests and the expenses are just the cost of doing business. (Although they are usually much better at preventing this level of chaos, but they pissed off a billionaire by hiring his top staff, so there’s that.)
- AlbertCory 3y ago
  Patent titles have no effect on anything. I have several with the exact same titles, and they're all different.
  - skygazer 3y ago
    Yes, they’re always vague. Maybe I should have omitted it so as not to confuse. To be clearer, the cited claims are the issue.

srj 3y ago

The patent on clicking a phone number to dial it was particularly absurd.