Apple ha presentato denuncia ufficiale alla ITC (U.S. International Trade Commission) contro la società HTC per la presunta violazione di 20 brevetti relativi all’interfaccia iPhone.
Al momento non sono stati resi noti i 20 brevetti incriminati, ma lo stesso Steve Jobs è intervenuto sulla questione dichiarando:
Possiamo stare fermi e guardare la concorrenza rubare le nostre invenzioni, oppure agire e fare qualcosa. Abbiamo deciso di fare qualcosa. Pensiamo che la concorrenza sia positiva, ma gli altri devono creare proprie tecnologie originali, non rubare le nostre
Giusto per la cronaca, la denuncia è stata depositata presso la corte distrettuale di Dalaware.
Vi terremo aggiornati in caso di novità.
UPDATE: la risposta di HTC non si è fatta attendere e per bocca di un suo portavoce dichiara: “Abbiamo saputo della vicenda solo tramite media e quindi non abbiamo ancora avuto modo di approfondire la situazione. Non sappiamo quindi su quali basi Apple abbia denunciato HTC ma possiamo dire che la nostra società si è sempre contraddistinta per l’innovazione tecnologica, con la creazione di tantissimi brevetti nel corso degli ultimi 13 anni”. [via]
UPDATE 2: sono finalmente stati resi noti tutti i brevetti incriminati. Eccoli nel dettaglio:
The ‘331 Patent, entitled “Time-Based, Non-Constant Translation Of User Interface Objects Between States,” was duly and legally issued on April 22, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The ‘949 Patent, entitled “Touch Screen Device, Method, And Graphical User Interface For Determining Commands By Applying Heuristics,” was duly and legally issued on January 20, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘949 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit B.
The ‘849 Patent, entitled “Unlocking A Device By Performing Gestures On An Unlock Image,” was duly and legally issued on February 2, 2010 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘849 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit C.
The ‘381 Patent, entitled “List Scrolling And Document Translation, Scaling, And Rotation On A Touch-Screen Display,” was duly and legally issued on December 23, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘381 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit D.
The ‘726 Patent, entitled “System And Method For Managing Power Conditions Within A Digital Camera Device,” was duly and legally issued on July 6, 1999 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘726 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit E.
The ‘076 Patent, entitled “Automated Response To And Sensing Of User Activity In Portable Devices,” was duly and legally issued on December 15, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘076 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit F.
The ‘105 Patent, entitled “GMSK Signal Processors For Improved Communications Capacity And Quality,” was duly and legally issued on December 8, 1998 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘105 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit G.
The ‘453 Patent, entitled “Conserving Power By Reducing Voltage Supplied To An Instruction-Processing Portion Of A Processor,” was duly and legally issued on June 3, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘453 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit H.
The ‘599 Patent, entitled “Object-Oriented Graphic System,” was duly and legally issued on October 3, 1995 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘599 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit I.
The ‘354 Patent, entitled “Object-Oriented Event Notification System With Listener Registration Of Both Interests And Methods,” was duly and legally issued on July 23, 2002 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the ‘354 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit J.
UPDATE 3 ecco l’elenco dei terminali HTC che, secondo Apple, usano uno o più brevetti che abbiamo elencato sopra: Nexus One, Touch Pro, Touch Diamond, Touch Pro2, Tilt II, Pure, Imagio, Dream, myTough 3G, Hero, HD2 2 Droid Eris.