Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apple Sues HTC for Patent Infringement

prnewswire.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 156 posts

Re: Apple Sues HTC for Patent Infringement

#11

Post by raganwald »

rauljara wrote: post #5

I love that apple drives innovation in hardware and interface design. I hate that the patent system we have now actively hinders the adoption of apple's innovations. Apple complains that competitors are stealing apple's technology, as though apple's success relies entirely on technology x or y. Not true. Apple's success is based on its polish and attention to detail, something which competitors have an incredibly har…

Apple's success is based on its polish and attention to detail

If that's the case, why can't they drop OS X and iPhone and simply make clones, just clones with polish and attention to detail?

You want to have your cake and eat it too: You want Apple to innovate and you want everyone else to leverage their innovation freely. I understand why that's in your best interests, I can't figure out why Apple would bother if everyone else could "adopt" their innovation wholesale.

Where do you want to draw the line? Can others adopt Apple's multi-touch gestures? How about the look and feel of OS X? What about the code, can CherryPC or whatever they were called make PCs that run OS X by writing drivers for it? How about duplicating the OS X copde, can Chinese clone makers simply copy the OS X code and replace Apple's logos with their own?

Re: Apple Sues HTC for Patent Infringement

#12

Post by mbreese »

martythemaniak wrote: post #3
mcav wrote: post #2

Steve Jobs: > "We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We've decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo: > "We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We've decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."

I assume you're talking about Nokia (since as an American, I can't be bothered to remember their CEO's name).

The Nokia situation is a little more murky than this. With Nokia, Apple tried to license their patents (which I believe are crucial to GSM), but Nokia wanted a broad cross-licensing agreement, to basically use all of the Apple display / mobile device / multitouch patents (what HTC is accused of doing). Patents involved in communication standards are supposed to be licensed on reasonable terms, so Apple cried foul. The predictable lawsuit and counter-suit then commenced.

I don't think anyone in this case is saying that HTC bothered to ask Apple to license the patents in question.

Re: Apple Sues HTC for Patent Infringement

#13

Post by kls »

I think they should put a cap on the size of a company that can hold and enforce patents. Apple et. al. do not need the protections afforded by patents. I know that in reality this would just create a lot of proxy companies but there has got to be a better way; getting rid of the patent system is not the solution as it does provide the little guy protection, from the big guys just stealing, his idea and drowning him out with cheaper copies.

But given the two choices, I am cheering for the patent trolls to just screw the whole think up to the point that the big guys clamor for it to go away.

Re: Apple Sues HTC for Patent Infringement

#14

Post by [deleted] »

martythemaniak wrote: post #3
mcav wrote: post #2

Steve Jobs: > "We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We've decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo: > "We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We've decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."

[deleted]

Re: Apple Sues HTC for Patent Infringement

#16

Post by mbreese »

[deleted] wrote: post #10
rauljara wrote: post #5

I love that apple drives innovation in hardware and interface design. I hate that the patent system we have now actively hinders the adoption of apple's innovations. Apple complains that competitors are stealing apple's technology, as though apple's success relies entirely on technology x or y. Not true. Apple's success is based on its polish and attention to detail, something which competitors have an incredibly har…

[deleted]

Copyright law alone doesn't incentivize the kind of work Apple does

Wasn't this the crux of the Apple/Microsoft lawsuit in the 90s? Apple claiming a copyright to the windows metaphor? So yeah, I'd say that copyright law doesn't quite cover them in this case.

Re: Apple Sues HTC for Patent Infringement

#18

Post by stcredzero »

tewks wrote: post #8
cnlwsu wrote: post #4

Steve Jobs, visited PARC in 1979 and was impressed and influenced by the Xerox Alto, the first computer ever with a graphical user interface. Jobs designed the new Apple Lisa based on the technology he saw at Xerox.

They, Xerox management, gave him a license to do so. People at PARC weren't so enthusiastic, I think.

The Xerox management thought all of those things were just toys and that computers would never be anything but what they were at that moment.

Reminds me of a lot of people who look at the iPad and say "meh."

Re: Apple Sues HTC for Patent Infringement

#20

Post by RiderOfGiraffes »

Same story for those who prefer it on TechCrunch: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1161526

ADDED IN EDIT:

tl;dr - I think cross referencing is a Good Thing(tm).

Clearly some people here think that this comment detracted from the value of HN. I can accept that, and I don't mind the loss of karma. Let me just explain that as a programmer I abhor unnecessary duplication. Equally, though, as an infophile I like to get different angles on each story, to try to see if there's any extras. So when I see the same story from different sources I like to read them all, but equally, I prefer that discussion and comments end up in one place.

So I try to add value to HN in part by making sure these things get cross-referenced. Mostly I think people find it harmless. Some people actively dislike it and vote me down, others actively like it and vote me up. Yet others find it both irritating and useful in equal measure, so no doubt they are confused and conflicted. That's their problem.

But I'm slowly stopping doing this anyway. I get the occasional comment saying it's really appreciated, but in general I'm reducing the time I spend here anyway.

And that's the rationale behind the comment.

ADDED FURTHER IN EDIT: Or perhaps you saw that I'd got the reference wrong and just down-voted me instead of bothering to tell me. Now I'm really disappointed in the HN crowd. I've fixed the reference.

Post reply on HN