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Apple Has Spent More Than $100 Million Suing Android Manufacturers

Posted by Unknown on from the saved-three-iphone-sales dept.

Diggester writes with an excerpt from an article at Gizmocrazed about the absurd amount of money Apple has spent suing HTC et al: "The never-ending war on Android has cost Apple more than $100 million, according to latest estimates. While a huge chunk of that money was spent (read wasted) in claims against HTC. So far, 84 claims have been filed against different Android manufacturers (HTC, Samsung, etc.) for patent infringements, out of which only 10 were proved to have been infringed and only one ruling has gone in Apple's favor."

20 of 184 comments (clear)

  1. Does not compute by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So far, 84 claims have been filed against different Android manufacturers (HTC, Samsung, etc.) for patent infringements, out of which only 10 were proved to have been infringed and only one ruling has gone in Apple's favor."

    WTH? What happened in the 9 cases where the patent was proven to be infringed but the ruling didn't go in Apple's favour?

    1. Re:Does not compute by mjwx · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So far, 84 claims have been filed against different Android manufacturers (HTC, Samsung, etc.) for patent infringements, out of which only 10 were proved to have been infringed and only one ruling has gone in Apple's favor."

      WTH? What happened in the 9 cases where the patent was proven to be infringed but the ruling didn't go in Apple's favour?

      They made minor changes to the software as per court orders.

      What you have to remember is that Apple are so afraid of Android that they are suing over anything and everything no matter how petty.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  2. 1 ruling in favor vs. $100M by psergiu · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Question is - how much money did they won from that one ruling in favor ?

    --
    1% APY, No fees, Online Bank https://captl1.co/2uIErYq Don't let your $$$ sit in a no-interest acct.
    1. Re:1 ruling in favor vs. $100M by Lambeco · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Question is - how much money did they won from that one ruling in favor ?

      Any compensation awarded to Apple in these cases is purely icing, and a molecule in the bucket compared to Apple's capital. This is about protecting their brand, trademarks and image. And as we all know, Apple will go to any lengths to do so.

    2. Re:1 ruling in favor vs. $100M by nomadic · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is about Steve Jobs throwing a tantrum because Google had the audacity to try and compete with the iphone with Android.

    3. Re:1 ruling in favor vs. $100M by Qzukk · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The real question is: how much money did all the lawsuits (winning or not) cost the competitors?

      --
      If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
    4. Re:1 ruling in favor vs. $100M by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This is about Steve Jobs throwing a tantrum because Google had the audacity to try and compete with the iphone with Android.

      The tantrum was about someone doing to him exactly what he did to Xerox.

    5. Re:1 ruling in favor vs. $100M by Pieroxy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The tantrum was about someone doing to him exactly what he did to Xerox.

      Do you mean to say Apple offered everything on iOS to Google and said "There. Do what you want with it." ?

      That's not the story - at least not the way I remember it.

      --
      Write boring code, not shiny code!
    6. Re:1 ruling in favor vs. $100M by sonicmerlin · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Right, when Samsung is coming out with products as unique as this: (http://inspiredbyapple.tumblr.com/tagged/Samsung), why would anyone doubt this is all about Jobs's tantrum?

      Besides, before the iPad tablets looked almost exactly the same as and functioned just like Apple's products: http://www.pcworld.com/article/113375/tablet_pc_turns_one.html

    7. Re:1 ruling in favor vs. $100M by Citizen+of+Earth · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is about protecting their brand, trademarks and image.

      Not really. It's about obstructing its competitors from bringing their phones to market. Apple figured out a year ago that its competitors have better phones than it does.

    8. Re:1 ruling in favor vs. $100M by psiclops · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Before the iPhone was first unveiled(January 2007) there was a phone (LG Prada) that actually did look a lot like an iPhone

      LG Electronics has claimed the iPhone's design was copied from the LG Prada. Woo-Young Kwak, head of LG Mobile Handset R&D Center, said at a press conference, “We consider that Apple copied the Prada phone after the design was unveiled when it was presented in the iF Design Award and won the prize in September 2006.”[8]

      Note: While the LG Prada was not released until after the iPhone, the design and concept were released before we saw any of this from Apple.

      --
      i spent five minutes thinking and all i got was this crappy sig
    9. Re:1 ruling in favor vs. $100M by artor3 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So you're saying that Apple should be able to trademark the rounded rectangle? That's stupid. Touchscreen devices, quite obviously, should try to maximize the size of the screen relative to the device. And anything that people must handle regularly shouldn't have sharp corners. The rounded rectangle is simply a case of form following function.

      Also, at least one of those photos has been manipulated to make the Samsung phone look more like the iPhone. The Galaxy S and iPhone 3G have different dimensions, including different aspect ratios, yet they appear identical in the photo comparing them. Whoops! Newsflash... if you have to lie to prove your point, you don't have one.

  3. So much for returns. by sethstorm · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They could have gotten higher ones investing in manufacturing in the US for US markets versus this unproductive litigation.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
    1. Re:So much for returns. by tripleevenfall · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Microsoft's mobile business essentially IS extorting money from Android manufacturers to indemnify themselves against litigation, I'm not sure why Apple wouldn't try their hand at it too.

    2. Re:So much for returns. by LordKronos · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They did - Samsung will open a new factory in Texas for producing the A? CPUs. Too bad that they will be shipped to China for final assembly as there are no suitable factories in US :)

      Yep. As far as I know, there isn't a single US factory that houses 8000 "workers" on-site, ready to wake up in the middle of the night without warning and work a 12 hour shift with a biscuit and tea as their reward.

      Oh, or did you mean that none of the factories are suitable because they all lack the necessary suicide nets?

  4. Money not necessarily 'wasted' by DickBreath · · Score: 5, Insightful
    A patent troll might consider that money a wise investment, even if it results in a court loss. It still creates Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD).

    Also, going to court is always a risk. There is some chance that no matter how ridiculous its claims, Apple might win on some minor points, or even some major ones.

    Consider this: Apple's Dutch Galaxy Tab ban shot down by The Hague

    From that article:

    After presiding over wrangles regarding the exact appearance of the two tablets and a thorough discussion of features such as dotted lines, screen icons and thickness of the device, the Dutch judge concluded that the Samsung Tablet gave a different overall impression to Apple's iPad.

    Yes folks. Money spent to argue over dotted lines and thickness of the device.

    Yes. Thickness of the device. A reasonable design goal to anyone.

    That's like arguing infringement of a sports car design based on "goes fast".

    --

    I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
    1. Re:Money not necessarily 'wasted' by Skarecrow77 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      at least they looked at the devices. If I recall, Germany provided an initial injunction based on a heavily photoshopped picture, provided by apple, showing the ipad vs galaxy tab that had the tab's dimensions grossly distorted and a non-standard home screen manipulated to appear as close to the ipad as possible.

      The car equivilent wouldn't be "goes fast" it would be ferrari showing a simple photo of an F40 next to a lamborghini where the lambo's body has been completely removed and replaced with an F40 look-alike, painted with a ferrari factory color, and had ferrari-esque badges slapped on... except the whole lambo conversion was done by ferrari themselves in order to misrepresent the true appearance of the original car.

  5. Grandstanding for future settlements by Lugor · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What the articles don't point out is this could be all grandstanding and positioning by all parties in a future patent settlement. Current patent laws and process allows too much overlap; they all virtually infringe on each others patent. They will all have to settle at some point, so look at the $100 million not as court costs but investment in future patent royalties or down-payment on future royalty payout.

  6. Re:Thermonuclear War... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Steve was never one to let the facts get in the way of his view of the universe.

  7. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion