HTC : An Uncertain Future!
The Taiwan smartphone manufacturer continued to endure an administrative law judge's initial ruling from the U.S. International Trade Commission, which found HTC in #-Link-Snipped-#. HTC's stock-in withdrew#-Link-Snipped-#more than 4% to their lowest level in six months, reports Bloomberg.
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Apple's getting too heavy for HTC
Although an administrative law judge's initial decision doesn't constitute a death blow, it doesn't forecast well for the final decision. If the six-member ITC panel agrees with the decision, it could levy an stoppage, preventing the importation of HTC smart phones. HTC has vowed to fight the decision, and would resort to the commission before it makes its final ruling. Apple referred to its previous statement from March 2010 when the complaint was filed for the first time.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in the release at the time, "We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours." Feeding HTC some hope is its recent determination to acquire S3 Graphics for $300 million. S3 holds essential patents that an ITC administrative law judge had determined in a previous ruling that Apple was violating. While investors previously called down the acquisition, criticizing the fact that HTC Chairwoman Cher Wang was a shareholder in S3, the patents are priceless if the ITC decides to favor Apple.
Foss Patents has an interesting, if slightly complex graphic, illustrating HTC and Apple's respective patent positions. In positions where companies own worthful intellectual property, a statement is distinctively reached, especially if the scourge of  a stoppage hangs over one of the companies. But Foss's Florian Miller said he doesn't see a settlement as a preceded conclusion yet. Unless Apple truly needs all of HTC's patents, it may attempt to implement the stoppage, which would greatly hurt the progress of HTC and all the Android supporters. If things continue to be the way they are, the next couple of months will likely prove to be tumultuous ones for HTC.
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