By now you’ve probably read about the latest patent tiff between Apple and HTC, but what about the implications of such a suit? According to an intellectual property expert, one of the potential outcomes of this case is that the courts could rule that existing handsets (such as the Nexus One, Hero, Droid etc) must be remotely downgraded to remove the disputed functionality. Such a case has happened before, where TiVo and EchoStar had a dispute, which resulted in EchoStar having to arrange for a remote software change on all affected machines, stripping them of existing features. Of course, if HTC were to be forced to remotely remove any juicy features of existing phones, you can expect a collective roar of anger to rise from existing users. What do you think will be the outcome of this case? A single party winning, or a settlement?
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