Apple Accuses HTC of Abusing Essential Patents

Since nobody here bothered to do a basic Google search as to the difference between the patents Apple is suing these other companies over vs. the patents Apple is suing over abusing, let me break this down:

1) All of these companies are part of a trade group. They all have contributed to the field of wireless communication as we know it today, with each holding patents essential to the very technologies our phones rely on. Obviously, it'd be crippling if someone bottlenecked things such as LTE or GSM communications, or HTTP data transfer. That's why these patents are covered under what's known as FRAND terms, which means a company will not artificially inflate the value of the patent to stifle competition.

If you follow up on patent law, Apple is very good about licensing essential patents. Motorola is probably the worst. So why Apple gets crapped on

2) There are some patents that each company still holds respective to its field that *isn't* necessary to license under FRAND terms. These are the patents HTC got sued over for doing things such as copying Apple's unlock screen, touch-screen heuristics, etc.

3) Apple is calling a lot of these companies on their BS practices of using FRAND patents to negotiate licensing non-FRAND patents. Rightly so. That's a sleazy tactic employed by desperate companies. You'll notice the companies getting called on this are either failing (Motorola) in the marketplace...... or failing in the marketplace (HTC).

It's not Apple's job to serve as an R&D department for companies that can't get their act together.

Don't like Apple? Tough beans. I'm sure they'll have something for Tracfone soon enough.