HTC this week announced the One A9, and the design turned out to be a blatant copy of the iPhone 6/6S. HTC claims that it was actually Apple who copied the Taiwanese manufacturer, but Cupertino won’t be serving papers to HTC anytime soon either way.
Apple was quick to start the litigation process with Samsung over every little minuscule patent, but not HTC. And that’s because in 2012, HTC and Apple reached a deal where the Taiwanese company would pay Apple $6-$8 per Android device the manufacturer ships in return for the patent battles to stop.
The terms of the deal remain confidential to this day. The agreement was for 10 years, and we’re only three years into it so far. HTC China’s President Ray Yam said this in 2012:
“The settlement with Apple will start to pay off next year, and the fourth quarter of this year is still going at a set pace. The biggest benefit to us is that we can put more energy into innovation, which is more important than anything else for a technology company.”
In other words, we won’t be seeing any litigation over the One A9, unless HTC breaks some confidential term of the deal. And in the meantime, HTC continues to “innovate” with blatant copycat devices.
What’re your thoughts on the One A9?
Come comment on this article: Apple won’t be suing HTC over the One A9’s blatant iPhone 6S-like design
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