In 2012, Nokia went on a suing spree over its patents: it filed about 50 different breaching claims against HTC in the US, UK, Germany, and other parts of Europe. The rulings for many of these infringement suits were in Nokia's favor and HTC emerged as a big victim.
In December 2013, HTC took a big hit when the UK court granted Nokia a win and banned HTC One, the company’s flagship Android handset, because it infringed upon a European Patent held by Nokia related to mobile phone microchips. In fact, a number of HTC devices breach the same patent, including the HTC One, One Mini, One Max, 8S and Desire 601. These HTC handsets use a technology patented by Nokia patent ‘024 relating to Broadcom BCM4239, BCM4330, BCM4334, and Qualcomm WR1605 chips. These chips and the allied technology are designed to assist broadcast voice and text messaging used in almost every smartphone that is available in the market today.
Nokia requested an injunction on October 30, 2013 over EP No. 0998024. And despite of knowing that it is facing a claim for infringement of the Nokia patent, HTC launched HTC One smartphone. The court gave the company time to appeal its decision till December 6, 2013 with the risk of many of its devices disappearing from the shelves in UK. Luckily for HTC, the Court of Appeals granted a stay on the injunction against HTC's products. Nokia was not happy about this decision since they believed that HTC continues to benefit from unauthorized and uncompensated use of its innovations. Nokia is still fighting for financial compensation from HTC's infringement. If HTC One were to be banned, it would have been difficult for the Taiwanese manufacturer to survive such a hit.
Why I decided to chose a case from a few years ago: I used an HTC One myself in 2013, and overtime realized how it was losing relevance. I was trying to understand why this was the case because my experience with the phone was nothing but great. I thought I'd research a little bit and stumbled upon this case. I thought it was really interesting to read a case about two companies that were massive a few years ago battle it out as their importance continues to fade.
Hi Shrushti,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this case - it dealt with two large mobile companies: HTC and Nokia. Interestingly, both of them are losing relevance and how this case is dated from 2012-2013. Interesting how Nokia decided to go for an injunction - difficult to get because the court has to be very convinced this is the best solution. Fortunately for HTC, the court sided with HTC and did not put an injunction on the product. I did enjoy your article - it was very technical. Perhaps add a bit more detail on the outcome of this.
Hi Shrushti!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post! I have never read any of your blogs before, so it was definitely fun getting to hear a new perspective! Anyway, you did a great job summarizing the HTC One case. I thought it was very creative how you tied a bit of personal history with the device and case into the post! It certainly made it more memorable, especially since I had wondered the same thing after the HTC One came out! I mean, it was critical acclaimed, everyone was talking about it, but then everything essentially went silent. But, after reading your insights, I know what happened.
I look forward to reading your next post!
Chris
Hi Srushti,
ReplyDeleteI very much enjoyed your post. Nokia will be out of business very soon, I believe. And, HTC is going really strong with the virtual reality stuff. I remember a Microsoft case about text messaging, too - it is almost like a go-to infringement area for patent wars!