Talk about having the brakes applied before things even get going: The Federal judge overseeing Apple and Nokia’s patent violation case in Delaware has put things on hold pending the results of the ITC investigation. Looks like we’ll have a bit of waiting before the patent spat between Apple and Nokia heats up. According to The Mac Observer , the judge overseeing the patent dispute as “temporarily put the proceedings on hold while waiting for a U.S. International Trade Commission investigation to run its course.” Finnish cellphone giant Nokia lobbed the first strike back in October, with a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple over “claims that the wireless technology the company uses in most of its products violate patents the cell phone maker owns.” Less than two months later, Apple fired back with a lawsuit of its own against Nokia for the same reason. At the same time as the lawsuits were filed in Federal court in Delaware, both companies also lobbed their complaints at the ITC, who has agreed to formally launch an investigation into the situation. “Other companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours,” Apple General Counsel and senior vice president Bruce Sewell commented in December after Cupertino launched their countersuit against Nokia. It’s common knowledge that the Finnish cellphone maker has been hit hard by new competitors such as Apple in recent years, and they have thus far failed to come up with any compelling technology to hold the iPhone’s explosive growth at bay.

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Section: Apple Business , iPhone / iPod touch / iPad , iPhone , iPhone Competitors In a press release out of Cupertino this week, Apple announced it is suing HTC for patent infringement in 20 different cases. According to Apple, the patents in question deal with the iPhone’s user interface, underlying architecture and hardware, meaning that HTC is being attacked from all sides on this one. While the specific patents aren’t mentioned, this could become a long battle for HTC to stay above water if it turns out Apple’s case is well presented. As for the reasoning behind the suit, Steve Jobs has been quoted as saying: We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours. As you may know, HTC was responsible for creating both the first Android based mobile phone as well as Google’s current Nexus One . In terms of design, it appears as if the interesting phones coming out of HTC have become too much like the iPhone for Apple to handle. Either way, it will certainly be fun to watch this one play out. I’m sure Apple’s patent lawyers have been building this case for a while (well, when they’re not suing Nokia at least). Via [ Business Insider ] Full Story » | Written by Josh Holat for Appletell . | Comment on this Article »

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While Tuesdays are known for Apple product launches, today the company announced not a new Mac but a lawsuit over patent infringement related to the iPhone. The target was mobile phone maker HTC , and none other than Steve Jobs was making the accusations. “We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.” At issue are some 20 patents relating to the “iPhone’s user interface, underlying architecture and hardware,” though specifics have not yet been divulged, nor has there been a response from HTC. More details will undoubtedly be made public as the lawsuit proceeds in both the U.S. District Court in Delaware and with the U.S. International Trade Commission. Nonetheless, the accusation of intellectual property theft over handheld device patents sounds oddly familiar, except it wasn’t Apple making the accusation recently, but Nokia. In December, Nokia sued Apple over patents relating to standards covering “wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption,” accusing Apple of “attempting to get a free ride on the back of Nokia’s innovation.” Apple promptly countersued , General Counsel Bruce Sewell also using the S-Word, stating that “other companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours.” If this all sounds harsh, it is. The flurry of patent lawsuits and counter-lawsuits is something of an anomaly, in that companies like Apple, HTC, and Nokia normally use their massive patent portfolios to protect themselves from litigation.

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If you thought the smartphone patent battles would end with Nokia vs. Apple, think again: Cupertino has just filed a lawsuit against HTC. PR Newswire is reporting on Apple’s latest patent battle, with the company filing a lawsuit against HTC for “infringing on 20 Apple patents related to the iPhone’s user interface, underlying architecture and hardware.” In a sign that Cupertino isn’t messing around, the lawsuit was filed concurrently with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) as well as in U.S. District Court in Delaware. "We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. "We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours." Apple recently filed a countersuit in their legal battle with cellphone giant Nokia, with the ITC planning to look into both companies’ claims of patent infringement, according to AppleInsider .

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With the next iPhone revision theoretically only months away, attention is turning again to what we can expect in the form of updates. Obviously, we’re all looking forward to the fourth generation iPhone sporting an octocore A4 processor, 3D OLED HD screen and, naturally, Flux Capacitor. But the question on my lips is — what will Apple do with the camera? Because, let’s face it — something needs to be done. Both the original iPhone and iPhone 3G sport a fixed-focus two megapixel camera. The iPhone 3GS offers a beefy 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus, auto white balance and video recording. Even so, the camera in the 3GS is nothing to write home about. As the saying goes, your best camera is the one you have on you, right now. Your Canon DSLR might have cost a small fortune and produce stunning photos, but it’s pretty much useless if it’s not within reach when you need it. When I leave my house it’s not always practical (or appropriate) to take my pro-kit with me (especially in London where everyone with a camera is considered a terrorist these days). My iPhone is always where I happen to be. That means most of the time, day or night, my iPhone is the best camera I have. And that’s a pretty galling thought, given how limited it is

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With the advent of Windows Phone Series 7 , the highly competitive smartphone market looks to become hyper-competitive in 2010. While more choice is always good for consumers, for developers seeking a return on the investment of time and effort the right platform choice is crucial. Windows Phone Series 7 remains largely an enigma for developers until the MIX conference next month. There will be a “marketplace” hub, but Series 7 will apparently not be compatible with Windows Mobile programs. Highly restricted multi-tasking appears similar to that in iPhone OS, and multi-touch will be required in Series 7, which is scheduled for release late this year. But that’s then, and this is now. Colin Gibbs has prepared a report (subscription required) for GigaOm Pro on the seven leading mobile platforms to advise developers on which platforms are the right and wrong ones. The seven platforms covered are Android, BlackBerry, Maemo (now MeeGo), iPhone, Symbian, webOS, and Windows Mobile. Not surprisingly, the most vibrant platform at the moment is iPhone OS, with more than 75 million devices sold and a highly successful App Store

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Although unlikely to dampen the spirits surrounding Apple’s widely-expected launch of a Tablet device Wednesday, the International Trade Commission has formally launched an investigation into a rival’s allegations. Nokia, which has sued the Cupertino, Calif. company, alleging multiple patent infringements, said it was “pleased” by the news. The ITC’s move comes after the Finnish cell phone

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Once per quarter, international environmental advocacy agency Greenpeace releases its Guide to Greener Electronics , which ranks gadget and computer makers on their efforts to be more ecologically minded. Last time around, Apple had managed only a ninth place finish in October of last year. For this inaugural 2010 survey, it jumps four spots to fifth overall. Apple’s score didn’t increase that much, going from 4.9 to 5.1, but some of its competitors did very poorly over the period covered by the rankings, according to Greenpeace’s analysis. What Apple did manage to do was to actually act in a way that was much more environmentally friendly than previous attempts, despite actually moving backwards in its attempts to educate the public about its ecological efforts. According to Greenpeace’s detailed evaluation, the redesign of the environmental information portion of Apple’s website actually provides less information than before, which counts against it according to the rating criteria the organization has established: Apple loses a point for providing even less information (on its updated web-pages) about its supply chain communications than before. This criterion evaluates disclosure of information flow in the supply chain. Apple also loses a point for minimal information about its future toxic chemical phase-out plans, reducing its communication on this subject on its updated web-pages. In terms of practical steps taken to lessen the impact of its actual products on the environment, though, Apple did very well: Apple does best on the toxic chemicals criteria, where it scores most of its points. It scores substantially less on waste and energy. In this evaluation, Apple wins and loses some points on toxic chemicals, but gains on energy. All Apple products are now free of PVC and BFRs, with the exception of PVC-free power cords in countries where their safety certification process is still ongoing. The four companies ahead of Apple on the ratings scale are Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Philips. That means that Apple is second among computer makers overall. Nintendo, Microsoft and Lenovo occupy the three bottom spots on the chart, with Microsoft slipping this year for a failure to support strong chemicals legislation.

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From the frozen tundra of Minnesota I hail, not by choice but by birth. I bring with me a head full of useless knowledge and trivia. I know, “Is this guy some sort of Superhero?” No, just an ordinary man, or am I? I’ve always been a tinkerer and owned many PC’s throughout my life. One day I grew tired of always troubleshooting and wanted to just enjoy the computer. From that point on, I was a Mac user. Using my machines to edit movies and other multimedia content. I work in Higher Education as an Apple Admin at a college in Minnesota. Since I came onboard, we have been making the switch to becoming a 100 percent Apple campus

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I’m cuckoo for Chrome. It’s super fast, it’s Webkit, it’s got some nice developer tool options that aren’t available in Safari and it’s combo Search Box/Address Box is so intuitive it’s completely ruined me for any other browsers that still split up those two elements. The only thing really keeping me from moving over to Chrome full-time at this point is my reliance on Safari for ClickToFlash . Luckily, the newest Dev build of Chrome released yesterday enables support for extensions so closing this gap should now be easier than ever. If you’re not familiar with ClickToFlash, it’s a Webkit plug-in that replaces all flash elements on a web page with a nice nondescript gray gradient and a little Flash logo. To view the blocked Flash you just click the logo and the browser loads it in. This has a number of benefits, not the least of which are that since the flash won’t be loaded until you ask for it page load times won’t grind to a crawl, your CPU usage won’t spike, and you won’t be forced to look annoying home mortgage ads when all you do is rent.

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