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????當iPhone收到一條含有電話號碼、電子郵件地址、網頁鏈接或街道地址的消息時，這些相關信息會自動高亮、添加上下劃線并能轉換成可點擊的鏈接。 ????例如如果你點擊電話號碼，iPhone會詢問你是否需要撥打；點擊網頁鏈接，iPhone會運行Safari瀏覽器打開該網頁；點擊街道地址時，iPhone則會在地圖程序上顯示該地點。 ????所有Android手機也都具有同樣的功能。 ????不過三十多家生產Android設備的廠商非常不走運，蘋果（Apple）早在1996年就針對運行上述操作的基礎系統和方法，在美國注冊了專利號為5，946，647的專利。2010年，蘋果起訴Android手機市場領導者宏達電（HTC）侵犯自己20項專利，647專利就是其中之一。 ????當時，史蒂夫?喬布斯曾表示，我們歡迎“健康有序”的競爭，但決不姑息競爭對手的“盜竊”行為。 ????上周五，美國國際貿易委員會（U.S. International Trade Commission,，簡稱ITC）的一名法官裁定，宏達電侵犯了包括647專利在內的兩項蘋果專利。 ????這一判決可能將引起軒然大波。 ????宏達電已就此提出上訴，ITC的一個六人委員可以推翻該判決。如果宏達電有相關專利能夠進行交換，蘋果也許會愿意與宏達電達成交叉授權協議。或者宏達電還能找到途徑繞過該專利，不過想繞過這項基礎技術絕非易事。 ????軟件專利資訊博客FOSS Patents的弗洛里安?穆勒指出： ????“站在中國的萬里長城面前時，人們一樣可以發誓要找到一條路繞過去。但這并不意味著真能行得通。” ????對宏達電而言，最糟糕的情況是，假設判決最終生效，ITC將會在年底前禁止美國進口宏達電的Android設備。正如穆勒指出的，宏達電2012年在美國市場的份額將迅速萎縮到0.0%。 ????如果宏達電侵犯了蘋果的647專利，那么其它所有Android廠商可能都在劫難逃。 ????根據穆勒的計算，此案只是針對Android操作系統提起的49項訴訟之一。谷歌開發了Android系統并將其免費分發給三十多家制造商，但它卻沒有花心思去獲得眾多基礎技術的授權。 ????谷歌隨后抱怨稱，美國的專利體系已經崩壞，不過谷歌在發布Android之前就應該考慮到這點。科技網站TechCrunch稱，在上周的谷歌季度收益電話會議上，其首席執行官拉里?佩奇在被問到此事時，非常挑釁地表示：“Android是不可戰勝的。不管我們的競爭對手如何大做文章。” ????FOSS Patents的穆勒按照慣例，在網站上發表了宏達電一案最詳細的分析報告，其中包括蘋果向ITC提起的關鍵“專利侵權表”（claim charts）的詳細分解。 ????譯者：項航 |
????When an iPhone receives a message that contains a phone number or an address -- e-mail, Web or street -- those bits of data are automatically highlighted, underlined and turned into clickable links. ????Click on the phone number, and the iPhone asks if you want to dial it. Click on the Web address, and it opens in Safari. Click on the street address, and Maps will display it. ????Any Android phone will do the same. ????Unfortunately for the three dozen companies that make Android devices, Apple (AAPL) filed for a patent on the underlying system and method that performs these actions in 1996. The patent, U.S. Patent No. 5,946,647, was one of 20 that in March 2010 Apple accused HTC, a leading maker of Android phones, of violating. ????Competition is "healthy," Steve Jobs said at the time. But competitors should not "steal." ????On Friday, a judge at the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled that HTC had indeed violated two of those Apple patents, including '647. ????This could be a big one. ????HTC has appealed the decision, which could be overruled by a six-member panel. Or Apple might be willing to cross-license the technology to HTC, assuming HTC has any patented technology to trade. Or HTC could find a way around the patent, although with a technique this basic, that might not be so easy. ????As FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller puts it: ????"Standing in front of the Great Wall of China, you can also vow to walk around it. That doesn't mean it's a viable option." ????In the worst-case scenario, assuming the decision prevails, the ITC could ban the import of HTC's Android devices before the end of the year. The company's 2012 U.S. market share, as Mueller puts it, could shrink to 0.0%. ????And if HTC violated Apple's patent '647, so probably have all the other Android manufacturers. ????By Mueller's count, this case is only one of 49 that have been filed against the Android operating system, which Google (GOOG) created and distributed for free to those three dozen manufacturers without, it would seem, bothering to license all the underlying technology. ????Google has been complaining lately that the U.S. patent system is broken -- a problem it might have considered addressing before it launched Android. When CEO Larry Page was asked about the issue during the company's quarterly earnings call last week, he was defiant. "Android is on a tear," he said, according to TechCrunch. "Despite the efforts of some of our competitors." ????FOSS Patents' Mueller, as usual, has the most detailed analysis of the HTC case, included a breakdown of the key "claim charts" that Apple filed with the ITC. |
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