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Apple Wants To Block Some HTC Products From US Under Tariff Act of 1930
An anonymous reader writes "Days after filing another suit against Samsung, Apple took aim at smaller rival HTC, filling a claim with the International Trade Commission (ITC) to ban the sales of the competing smartphones and tablets. Apple said that HTC was infringing on 'groundbreaking' [technology] that Apple developed for its iPod, iPhone and iPad products."
Contrary to Jobs' statements, they don't want competition and they learned their lesson back in the early Mac Vs. PC days when they got their lunch eaten by a bunch of nobody OEMs churning out cheap PCs. Apple's model is not sustainable, and it's even less sustainable when people aren't flush with disposable income. Any moron could have predicted Apple would be in trouble years ago - they're one company trying to make one model of phone (which is just an iPod with a 3G chip) versus numerous Android vendors each innovating.
"We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it," Steve Jobs said at the time.
In other news, Steve Jobs is seeking to have a new liver transplanted in along with whatever bodily organ it is that keeps a person from being a huge douchebag.
If only he could rise to the ethical standards of 1990s Microsoft. Yeah, it's gotten that bad.
If Apple were serious in their attempt to protect their business, then make their devices in the US and maybe their complaint could be taken seriously.
They may do the bulk of their R&D in the US but it is all built offshore. I don't see how they can claim protection under these circumstances.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
Apple is the new Microsoft. Remember how Apple used to sue bloggers for just talking about an upcoming product? How about the kid who was selling white iphone skins, Apple shut him down in a hurry.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
It is quite accurate. Apple doesn't want competition. They have a real problem with Android in terms of their continued growth. Apple's massive rise has been due to its consumer electronics, not its computers. They could get rid of their computer division and still be huge.
Well the iPod is secure, for a good while at least, because of branding and fashion. People don't buy MP3 players, they buy iPods. They are the fashionable thing to own. Fine, but it is also a fairly saturated market, and one that is hard to sell people on new gadgets. MP3 players these days do a good job and have tons of space, it is hard to say "Hey you need a new one!"
So their growth markets are cellphones and tablets. However Android is cutting in to that hard. The iPhone is facing a major threat from Android phones, particularly HTC phones which feature a very slick interface (Sense is really nice).
What's more, the Android market moves much faster. Right now you can get Android phones with 4G, with dual core CPUs, with 3D screens. Now I'd say other than the first one that is not so useful, but it is new gadgets that people want.
They don't want that, they don't want to have to complete on their own merits, so they are going after Android makers. They were fine with Blackberry, that went for the business segment. No problem, they weren't interested in that, they wanted the larger consumer segment and they had it. However Android cuts hard in that and with each improvement cuts in more.
Apple is worried, Android has real potential to cut off their steam in their growth areas. If they start to take over as the phones, and perhaps tablets (that area remains to be seen) then Apple is in trouble. Also with that goes the profitable app and media sales.
It isn't like it would put them out of business, but it could shrink the profitability a lot and no company is interested in that.
These companies have payed millions of dollars to buy patents. HTC didn't buy the IP therefore it has to pay a licensing fee.
The goal isn't to actually stop the selling of products, the goal is to extract licensing fees to cover the costs of patent purchases in the past and internal R&D.
The sales block just expedites the process by hitting the company much harder than insubstantial penalties (see Microsoft's fines in the 90s). It's one thing to fine them a few million a year, it's another to cut their revenue stream so that they can't afford the fines.
Just nobody noticed because they were tiny. For a little while in the beginning they were a real techie company. I call that the "Woz Apple." However it wasn't long before they became more locked down and controlling than MS ever was. I've seen it time and time again throughout their history, but they were small, it only affected a small number of people, most of them fans who would forgive any transgression.
They also got a pass from a lot of geek types since they were "against Microsoft." They figured anyone who opposed MS in any way, no matter how minor, had to be a good guy. They never looked in to it past that. The love of the underdog and the dislike of MS meant Apple could do no wrong and they needn't look deeper.
Now Apple is massive, they are a consumer electronics giant. However this is not because of any change in their way of doing business, just that they found a market that they do well in. However because they are large, people are taking notice of what Apple does. They seem to think Apple has changed, and don't realize that only their visibility, and the effects of their actions have changed.
Too bad that Apple is admitting how they can't compete with their design and technology, so they will compete with lawyers instead.
Sad.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
I think Apple is just trolling the world at this point...
Honestly? I think we are beginning to see what will be the future of Apple without Steve. it is kinda sad really as it really was "The house that Steve built" but it is his own fault for not building a clean line of succession and obviously grooming his replacement after the first health scare. i know that a company is more than one man but reading many stories of those that have worked there it is pretty clear that from the time he came back it has been Steve's vision the whole time.
Sadly I have a feeling it is gonna be like the Pepsi guy all over again when he is gone, or like the bumbling mess that has been Ballmer's takeover of Gate's company. Whether you liked them or not Gates and Jobs had clear visions of where they wanted their respective companies to go and plans to get them there. I have a feeling as Steve takes more and more time to tend to his failing health the stupid moves and general douchebaggery will only get worse, but that is what happens when you get suits in charge that are MBAs and salesmen and not visionaries.
It happened to Apple under the Pepsi guy, it is happening now to MSFT under the sweaty monkey, and it looks like it will happen to Apple again without Steve at the helm. Let us just hope for all those Apple fans out there Steve gets well soon, because whether you support their products or not you have to admit the man knew how to run his company.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
Indeed - this is nothing to do with recouping R&D costs. Apple have surely already done that many times over with sales of their own products, without requiring licensing fees. This is purely about the guys at the top trying their damndest to keep out their competitors, and none of these companies seems to be any better than another in that regard - they all scream for freedom when it's their neck in the noose while happily lobbying for protectionism when the roles are reversed.
No, Apple is not a patent troll. Unless you believe that using a patent under any circumstance is trolling, which is patently ridiculous. Apple does not purchase patent rights for the sole purpose of suing or licensing them to other companies. Apple files its own patent applications, uses its patents in its own products, and seeks licensing fees for their patents, if they wish to. The entire point of patents is to secure a monopoly on the idea or concept that has been patented. It would be a waste of the application fees to let the patents sit idle while other companies freely implemented the ideas.
Software patents are an abomination, but that's a completely separate topic than patent trolls.