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October 02, 2013

HTC and Qualcomm Rework Smartphone Chips to Duck Possible U.S. Ban

The HTC One, according to reports, may be in for an critical ban, but with some quick work on the part of HTC and partner Qualcomm, a little retooling may be all that's necessary to prevent such a drastic step, keeping HTC One models on store shelves throughout the U.S.

Last week, the U.S. International Trade Commission released a preliminary ruling that said HTC had infringed on two different patents held by Nokia, specifically relating to improving call quality both on the receiving and the transmitting ends. Nokia's filings noted that the chip in question was a Qualcomm development, and while only older HTC models were mentioned in the case, newer HTC models like the HTC One would have fallen under the ruling. Of course, this assumes that the commission will decide to uphold its earlier ruling; it is expected to make that determination in January. But, likely acting under the maxim that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, HTC and Qualcomm are working to make modifications to the chip such that HTC's flagship phone doesn't end up stuck in dry dock.

This, at last report, isn't the first time that HTC has found itself on the bad end of a patent dispute; Apple also put a suit out against HTC in November, though the two settled out of court. If the HTC One were to be removed from the United States market, it would likely mean even worse news for the company, as it's forecasting its first quarterly loss since 2002, when the company's initial public offering took place. Mostly the trouble has come at the hands of Samsung, who has been experiencing massive growth of late, and that has, in turn, stolen some thunder from HTC.

HTC, however, does have time before the January ruling to develop a technological fix that allows the HTC One to continue operation in a fashion that doesn't infringe on Nokia's patents—and this appears to be what's going on here—though there's also the option of licensing agreements and the like to keep the phone as-is. Neither HTC nor Nokia, however, would say if such a licensing arrangement was under development. Perhaps more interesting is that Nokia, of late, has been particularly aggressive in terms of patent protection, filing several suits in recent days in pursuit of such protection. Reports indicate that the company will receive $675 million this year alone in royalties alone.

Still, it's clear that HTC is working hard to keep its heaviest hitters on shelves, and with the holiday shopping season coming up—likely HTC's best chance to keep from hitting that losing quarter—HTC is going to need all hands on deck in order to fend off the growth of Samsung and the increasing proliferation of Android devices. Hopefully it—and Qualcomm—can find a way to keep the chips flowing and devices arriving in stores.




Edited by Blaise McNamee


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