Android threatened by Apple dispute

A recent judgement that ruled HTC infringed Apple patents could be a direct threat to Android.

Apple seems to be in the news as much for its aggressive legal attacks on rivals, especially producing mobile devices, as much as its products of late.

But the ruling by the International Trade Commission yesterday – which upholds the claim that HTC has infringed at least two of Apple’s patents – could have wider repercussions.

While the judgement is still only a preliminary, and subject to further review, the patents disputed represent fundamental operations of the Android operating system itself.

The two patents are:

No. 5,946,647: system and method for performing an action on a structure in computer-generated data

No. 6,343,263: real-time signal processing system for serially transmitted data

and are as broad as they read.

The claims of infringement are further upheld, it could force HTC and other mobile device manufacturers integrating the Android OS to remove some functionality.

It comes at a time when Android is already threatened by claims of patent infringement from some big-hitting companies, not least Microsoft and Oracle.

Android is developed by Google, who can lay claim to around 700 patents – but many of these relate to products other than mobile software, not least to Google Search, the most successful Google product to date.

While Google had bid – some might say in a flippant and immature way – for Nortel’s 6,000+ patents relating to telecoms and communications, these were eventually acquired by companies such as … Apple and Microsoft.

When Google were this week questioned during their earnings release on issues relating to patent challenges, Google’s co-founder and CEO Larry Page instead refused to comment directly on the challenges.

Instead, Page rolled off impressive stats relating to Google Android phone activations, currently 550,000 every day, plus the large number of partner agreements.

He also suggested that Android patents would be created through development, rather than earned or bought – a potentially dangerously naive approach considering the maturity of the mobile software market.

However, Google has a habit of refusing to acknowledge real-world sensibilities, not least other people’s Intellectual Property (IP) rights, especially relating to copyright or trademarks.

While so far it is manufacturer HTC who has been directly targeted by Apple in this round of the patent war, it is clear that Google’s position in developing a fully functional Android OS becomes increasingly insecure.

That Google is a corporate behemoth would be intimidating for most companies to go head to head with in a legal dispute: but the fact that Apple, Microsoft, and Oracle are pushing for claims shows a heavyweight showdown very much in progress.

Even more so, Apple is currently going after the manufacturers who provide rival products using Android: it’s not just HTC being targeted, but also Motorala and Samsung in a range of IP protection actions.

Now that Apple has won the first round with the ITC, no doubt Microsoft and Oracle will be spurred on with their own claims.

And manufacturers may become increasingly concerned about providing products carrying the Google-powered Android OS.

At present, though, viable alternative mobile OS’s are scarce.

Perhaps Nokia’s alignment with Microsoft may indeed prove a fortuitous decision over the long-term.