A case study on patents

1. Apple vs HTC
Patent Violation Case
Manju A. Thomas
Ist Year MBA-DMS

2. PATENT #5,946,647
 a patent that was issued all the way back in
1999 for Apple.
 “data tapping patent”
 The method used by which your phone can
automatically "see" an address or phone
number on a web page or e-mail and send
you to the appropriate app.

4. THE CULPRIT
 HTC, a Taiwanese phone manufacturer uses
this technique patented to Apple, in number
of its devices.

5. Complaint filed by Apple Inc, on Apr. 6, 2010
with the U.S. International Trade
Commission.

6. U.S. INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION
 The United States International Trade
Commission is an independent federal agency
that, among other things, adjudicates cases
involving imports that allegedly infringe
intellectual property rights." It has the power, in
rare cases, to ban infringing products from the
country entirely.

7. VERDICT ON DEC 2011
 The ITC ruled that HTC infringed on a patent
related to "data tapping" that occurs at the
system level in android.
 A violation of section 337 of Tariff Act of 1930
 Banned the importation and sales of HTC
devices having this technique, starting April
19th, 2012.

8. WHAT HTC HAD TO SAY?
“While disappointed that a finding of
violation was still found on two claims
of the „647 patent, we are well prepared
for this decision, and our designers
have created alternate solutions for the
„647 patent.”

9. No wonder their tagline says,