Apple Wins Patent Ruling Against HTC, Bolsters Case Against Android

Apple Inc. has scored a victory in a patent-infringement ruling against HTC Corp., effectively banning some HTC smartphones from the U.S. starting next year. This decision strengthens Apple's case against Google's Android operating system, which former CEO Steve Jobs claimed "ripped off the iPhone." The ruling is part of a broader battle between Apple and Android, with Apple involved in over a dozen other patent cases. Apple's fight against Android includes complaints against Samsung Electronics Co. and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.

Key Takeaways:

The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled that HTC is violating one Apple patent related to data-detection technology and issued a limited import exclusion order that takes effect April 19, 2016.
The commission determined that three other patents in the case weren't infringed.
HTC will completely remove the technology from all of its phones soon, according to Grace Lei, general counsel for HTC.
The patent ruling is the first definitive decision in the dozens of patent cases that began to proliferate in 2010 as smartphone makers battle over a market that increased 44 per cent last quarter from a year earlier to 117 million phones worldwide.
Google, which denies copying the iPhone and has not been named in any Apple cases, claims that Apple is trying to control the U.S. smartphone market through litigation.
HTC's Android devices account for about 70 per cent of the smartphone operating systems used in the U.S.
Google licenses Android to handset makers for free as a way to further its business of selling display and search advertising on mobile devices.
Apple's fight against Android includes two other cases against HTC, as well as complaints against Samsung Electronics Co. and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.

Statistics:

The U.S. International Trade Commission's ruling is effective April 19, 2016.
Apple's Institute of Strategy Analytics said that the global smartphone market grew 44 per cent last quarter from a year earlier to 117 million phones worldwide.
Google's Android accounts for about 70 per cent of the smartphone operating systems used in the U.S., according to Canalys.
Google licenses Android to handset makers for free to further its business of selling display and search advertising on mobile devices.
Google's share of the estimated $2.1 billion (U.S.) mobile-ad market will expand to 24 per cent from 19 per cent in 2010, according to IDC.
Apple will see its share of the mobile-ad market decline to 15 per cent from 19 per cent in 2010.

Sources:

Bloomberg News
Strategy Analytics Inc.
Canalys
IDC (Framingham, Mass.)
Millennial Media Inc.