Less than two weeks ago, the ITC claimed that HTC, the world-renowned handset manufacturer famous for its Android handsets, most recently the Sensation 4G, had infringed on two of Apple’s patents. This was several days after the company had won a victory against Apple in another dispute, claiming that they had violated two patents which HTC now owns through its purchase of S3 Graphics.
Confused yet?
Well, today the company said outright to Bloomberg that it is willing to negotiate with Apple in order to settle the patent dispute out of court. “We are open to all sorts of solutions, as long as the solution and the terms are fair and reasonable. On and off we’ve had discussions with Apple, even before the initial determination came out,” said Winston Yung, HTC’s Chief Operating Officer.
While many have banged the drum since the ruling on July 15th, claiming that Android is doomed to fail now that Apple can claim victory against a prominent Android manufacturer, the issue is a bit broader than that. According to This Is My Next, the two patents that HTC have found to infringe are from 1994 and 1996, long before the smartphone era, and certainly before Android even existed in Andy Rubin‘s eye.
Nevertheless, it would seem prudent that with Apple suing, and claiming victory against, many prominent Android manufacturers, HTC would want to settle the dispute as soon as possible. Heck, they’re already rumoured to be paying Microsoft $5 per handset.
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