HTC could get Apple’s iPhone and iPad banned in the US because of patents, which of course would include the new iPhone 5 set for release today.
A US judge has said that Apple may have trouble invalidating two patents held by HTC relating to data transmission in wireless devices, according to Bloomberg. The trial could lead to a ban on the iPad and the iPhone.
“Clear and convincing means something to me,” U.S. International Trade Commission Judge Thomas Pender said yesterday in Washington, speaking on whether a patent should or shouldn’t have been issued. “I have to be pretty darn certain a U.S. patent is invalid.”
HTC said the patents relate to 4G mobile broadband technology and therefore relate to the third generation iPad and the yet to be announced iPhone 5.
However, Apple is claiming that HTC acquired the patents solely to sue the firm. “I don’t care if they bought these patents to sue you or not,” Pender told Apple lawyer Michael McKeon. “They are a property right.”
A large majority of the case will come down to whether HTC is using the technology within the patents since this is a requirement under law for the smartphone maker to win. HTC said it bought the patents “to protect itself and its customers from these aggressive tactics and to preserve its ability to compete in the United States.”
