產(chǎn)業(yè)專家指出，蘋果(Apple)與臺灣手機大廠宏達電(HTC)達成智能手機專利授權協(xié)議，并不代表蘋果已經(jīng)打算終止與其它更大的 Android 陣營競爭對手包括Google、摩托羅拉(Motorola)與三星(Samsung)之間的紛爭。 蘋果在美國時間11月10日宣布與HTC達成全球和解協(xié)議，內(nèi)容包括雙方所有專利訴訟均撤銷，并簽訂為期十年之專利授權契約，但合約內(nèi)容不公開。蘋果是在2010年3月控告HTC侵犯專利權，點燃雙方手機專利戰(zhàn)火；你來我往的訴訟與反訴案件超過100件。 而蘋果與HTC之間的協(xié)議，標志著蘋果的法律策略正由訴訟朝向授權發(fā)展；市場觀察家指出，蘋果首席執(zhí)行官庫克(Tim Cook)已經(jīng)公開表示對訴訟案的厭惡，因此這樣的發(fā)展也是有跡可循的。蘋果已故前首席執(zhí)行官喬布斯(Steve Jobs)曾聲稱 Android 陣營是“剽竊iPhone”，并宣示將針對該陣營“發(fā)動核戰(zhàn)”，看來該公司的策略已經(jīng)有所轉變。 根 據(jù)一些分析報告估計，蘋果將透過授權協(xié)議對HTC每支手機收取7美元的費用，一年總收入可達2.8億美元。有兩位在過去兩年半密切觀察蘋果專利戰(zhàn)的產(chǎn)業(yè)專家猜測，蘋果也會針對其它競爭對手提出類似的授權協(xié)議；他們并指出，HTC的市占率最近顯著下滑，而且對于取得授權已經(jīng)采取較開放態(tài)度，也與微軟 (Microsoft)類似的協(xié)議。 “我認為蘋果與HTC和解案，是智能手機市場專利戰(zhàn)爭走向平息的好的開始，但僅僅是第一步而已…這種形式的和解最終有可能完全取代訴訟。”美國史丹佛大學法學院(Stanford Law School)教授Mark Lemley表示。 “HTC算是一家比較小的手機廠商，而且也有控告蘋果違反專利權；”Lemley在接受EETimes美國版的電子郵件采訪時表示：“因此蘋果有更多的理由繼續(xù)緊 追三星與摩托羅拉不放?！痹诮衲?月，蘋果才贏了一場大官司──美國加州圣荷西(San Jose)法院陪審團裁定三星一系列手機侵犯了蘋果的設計與功能專利，須賠償10.5億美元給蘋果。 本文授權編譯自EE Times，版權所有，謝絕轉載 本文下一頁：蘋果與HTC協(xié)議存在的意義

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• 蘋果官司贏得不值：賠償金沒拿到，三星依舊很滋潤
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{pagination} “如果在不久的將來，蘋果與Android陣營制造商達成更多授權協(xié)議，到那時候──也只有在那時候，才能安全的假設蘋果比喬布斯時期更朝向采取授權導向策略。”一位密切觀察手機專利戰(zhàn)的部落客Florian Mueller表示。 “HTC隨著時間推移，對蘋果的威脅越來越小，這特別激勵蘋果結束與該公司之間基本上只是使注意力分散的爭端?！盡ueller同樣在接受EETimes美國版電子郵件采訪時表示。 Google在2011年8月以125億美元收購摩托羅拉，是前者史上規(guī)模最大的一宗并購案，主要是看中后者持有的1萬7,000項專利；而蘋果與HTC的協(xié)議，意味著并購摩托羅拉并沒有讓Google取得保護其它Android陣營廠商的足夠火力。 Mueller在一篇部落格文章中寫道：“如果HTC相信Google能藉由摩托羅拉專利解決Android的專利問題，就不會單獨與蘋果簽訂合約，而會等待Google所率領的整個Android陣營與蘋果達成全球性的專利和解?！? 有業(yè)界消息指出，蘋果與Google的高層已經(jīng)針對手機專利訴訟問題進行協(xié)商；一篇《時代雜志(Time Magazine)》表示：“蘋果與HTC的協(xié)議顯然是讓蘋果與Google之間代理戰(zhàn)爭(proxy-war)等級下降，也為蘋果的授權交易設定了基準線?！? 本文授權編譯自EE Times，版權所有，謝絕轉載 編譯：Judith Cheng 參考英文原文：Apple, HTC patent deal may not open Android door，by Rick Merritt

相關閱讀：
• 你真覺得蘋果是不可戰(zhàn)勝的嗎？
• 蘋果官司贏得不值：賠償金沒拿到，三星依舊很滋潤
• 蘋果與宏達電達成全球專利訴訟和解t8nesmc

{pagination} Apple, HTC patent deal may not open Android door Rick Merritt SAN JOSE, Calif. – Apple's deal to license smartphpone patents to Taiwan's HTC does not necessarily indicate it is ready to end disputes with larger Android rivals Google, Motorola and Samsung, according to two experts. Apple announced on Nov. 10 it reached “a global settlement that includes the dismissal of all current lawsuits and a ten-year license agreement” with HTC, although it declined to provide details of the deal. Apple sued HTC for patent infringement on March 2, 2010, firing the first shot in a mobile patent war that eventually grew to more than 100 lawsuits and countersuits. The deal marks a shift in Apple’s legal strategy toward licensing rather than litigation. Observers said it bears the thumbprint of Apple CEO Tim Cook, who has expressed publicly his aversion to lawsuits. The move marks a policy shift from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs who vowed to “go thermonuclear” against Android backers he claimed “ripped off the iPhone.” Reports estimate Apple could be charging HTC about $7 per handset and could net as much as $280 million annually from the deal. But two experts who closely follow the two-and-a-half year mobile patent wars remain skeptical Apple will strike similar licensing deals with larger rivals. They note HTC has declined significantly in market share recently and has been more open to licensing, agreeing to a similar deal with Microsoft. “I think the settlement is a good first step towards winding down the smartphone wars, but it is only a first step…that settlement may replace litigation eventually,” said Mark Lemley, a professor at Stanford Law School. “HTC is a small player, and it had its own patent suits against Apple,” said Lemley in an email exchange. “So Apple has more reason to keep going after Samsung and Motorola than HTC,” he added. Indeed, Apple won a landmark $1.05 billion in August when a San Jose jury decided a wide array of Samsung handsets infringed Apple’s design and utility patents. "If Apple strikes more license deals with Android device makers in the near future, then--and only then--it will be safe to assume that Apple is more licensing-oriented than it was under Jobs," said Florian Mueller, a blogger who closely follows the mobile patent fights. "HTC has over time become less and less of a threat to Apple, so there was a particularly strong incentive for Apple to do away with what was basically a distraction," Mueller said in an email exchange. Google bought Motorola in August 2011 for $12.5 billion, its biggest acquisition ever, largely for its cache of 17,000 patents. The Apple/HTC deal suggests the merger did not yield Google enough ammunition to protect OEM users of Android. “If HTC had believed that Google could solve Android's patent problems with Motorola's patents, it wouldn't have done a separate deal with Apple but would have waited for a global settlement between Apple and the entire Google-led Android ecosystem,” Mueller wrote in his blog. Several reports said chief executives of Apple and Google have been in talks about mobile patent litigation. “This pact is unambiguously a de-escalation of Apple’s proxy-war against Google…setting a baseline for Apple licensing deals,” according to a report in Time Magazine.