News

Apple Starts “Nuclear War” in Patent Fight with HTC

Bloomberg
March 3, 2010

Related Professionals: Yoches, E. Robert

Media Mention

Apple has filed a patent-infringement complaint against Taiwan’s HTC Corp., seeking to prevent U.S. imports of phones that run Google Inc.’s Android operating system. The decision to take the case to the International Trade Commission signals that Apple wants to curb HTC’s market share gains as quickly as possible. The ITC can act more quickly than a court, and its power to ban imports is often more important in a rivalry than the cash damages possible in a civil case. Apple and Nokia Oyj have filed ITC complaints seeking to block imports of the other company’s phones. Robert Yoches, a partner at Finnegan, commented that in these cases, “you’ve got the ‘smartest kids on the block’ attitude and some of it is quite well deserved.” Yoches added, “They also feel that this is the way to hold onto market share. Even if they can’t keep someone out, they can keep some competitive features out.”