Was Apple’s lawsuit against HTC an isolated case, or an indication of a broader strategy shift at the company? A financial analyst is betting it’s the latter, suggesting that that Apple could be ready to lawyer up to protect its intellectual property.
Enterprise Mobile Today has the story about what Apple could be planning as it looks to fend off would-be iPhone killers.
Apple’s HTC lawsuit may have come out of nowhere as far as the public is concerned, but behind the scenes, Apple has been warning handset vendors for some time that it has patents and lawyers and isn’t afraid to use them.
The threats and warnings to handset vendors have been going on for some time, according to a research note from Yair Reiner, a financial analyst with Oppenheimer & Co., in a note for clients.
However, it was the HTC suit that was a litigation wakeup call for many Android vendors. “The lawsuit filed against HTC thus appears to be Apple’s way of putting a public, lawyered-up exclamation point on a series of blunt conversations that have been occurring behind closed doors,” wrote Reiner.
“Our checks also suggest that these warning shots are meaningfully disrupting the development roadmaps for would-be iPhone killers. Rival software and hardware teams are going back to the drawing board to look for work-arounds. Lawyers are redoubling efforts to gauge potential defensive and offensive responses,” Reiner added.
