HTC Corp. CEO Peter Chou told investors on Friday that he is confident in his company’s business, and he called a ruling from the U.S. International Trade Commission that his company’s Android devices violate two of Apple’s patents a “distraction.”
The company is in the midst of a patent-related imbroglio, whereby his company has been found to violate two of Apple’s patents, while Apple’s Mac OS X was found to violate patents that his company purchased just five short days after those same patents were deemed unpatentable by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.
The ITC rulings could theoretically lead to import bans on either company’s products, though both rulings must survive a lengthy review process before that could happen. The ruling on Apple’s infringement is not likely to survive that process due to the above-mentioned USPTO findings, but the fate of the ruling of HTC’s infringement is anyone’s guess at this point.
In addition to the ITC rulings, Apple and HTC are involved in parallel lawsuits over the same patents. The lawsuits could result in damages or licensing fees being collected by an eventual winner, and are likely to be strongly influenced by the ITC and the USPTO’s actions.
Meeting with investor over the telephone, The International Business Times reported that Mr. Chou said, “Many lawsuits nowadays are results of being successful; it’s part of the business. We will not bring the company to a dangerous position.”
The Wall Street Journal added that Mr. Chou, the man who OK’s the purchase of recently invalidated patents, told investors that he was confident that the lawsuits would not affect HTC’s business.
We’ll just have to wait and see how that works out.