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A comment on Apple deals massive patent blow to HTC, Android in serious trouble. Parent comment

Re:Apple deals massive patent blow to HTC, Android in seriou... by ben1040 on Monday July 18, 2011 @02:37PM (#2777516)
Why is HTC being sued and not Android - Because HTC is an corporate entity that makes money off Android - Android isn't a corporate entity on its own - who would they sue if they wanted to sue Android?

Google develops Android and markets it, and I would assume that they could be sued for developing an infringing product. Google most certainly makes money, and a lot of it, from Android.

But Google makes no phones on its own, unlike HTC and Samsung, so Apple goes after those companies to keep the devices from being imported into the US. And Apple can fight Android in a legal proxy war rather than directly suing Google.

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Re:Apple deals massive patent blow to HTC, Android in seriou... by rryan on Monday July 18, 2011 @03:08PM (#2777678)
> Google most certainly makes money, and a lot of it, from Android.

Could you explain how you are most certain of this? I don't believe they make any money from Android. If you mean they make a lot of money on ads from customers accessing their services via a mobile device -- then fair enough but that's not "from Android" any more than they make tons of money "from the iPhone".

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Re:Apple deals massive patent blow to HTC, Android in seriou... by MatthewPhillips on Monday July 18, 2011 @03:31PM (#2777791)
They've released figures in the past that Android is profitable on its own; meaning irregardless to the effect on search profits. They make money on selling Google Apps, Maps service, etc to manufacturers and carriers.
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Re:Apple deals massive patent blow to HTC, Android in seriou... by shagrath on Monday July 18, 2011 @03:44PM (#2777876)
"They make money on selling Google Apps, Maps service, etc to manufacturers and carriers."

Would love a source on this... AFAIK Google never publicly said Android Trademark and Google Apps were not free (apart from the obligation to pass the CTS test suite)

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Re:Apple deals massive patent blow to HTC, Android in seriou... by nissimk on Monday July 18, 2011 @03:37PM (#2777835)
Apple is actually taking this up with HTC and Motorola. They're not suing Samsung, possibly because they do a lot of business with them, and possibly because Samsung has a much larger patent portfolio with which they can defend themselves. Initiating patent infringement is not without risks when you go up against someone with a large arsenal that they can fight back with.
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Re:Apple deals massive patent blow to HTC, Android in seriou... by fpgeek on Tuesday July 19, 2011 @01:05AM (#2779679)
Uh, Apple is suing Samsung: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2383820,00.asp

They may not be suing Samsung over this particular patent, but that could easily change.

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