Apple may be stringing together courtroom wins here in the U.S. as of late, but things aren't going quite as well for the company across the Atlantic. A U.K. judge has ruled that HTC products do not infringe on four Apple patents, which cover things like slide-to-unlock, multi-touch software and tools that allow users to scroll through photos and change alphabets. Judge Christopher Floyd also said that three of Apple's patents are invalid, with the only valid one being related to photo scrolling.
When asked to comment on the Judge Floyd's ruling, HTC said that it was happy with the decision but that it's "disappointed that Apple continues to favor competition in the courtroom over competition in the marketplace." Meanwhile, Apple's statement didn't have much to say about todays outcome, with the company simply saying that "competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours." Apple recently filed a new ITC complaint against HTC here in the U.S., claiming that 29 of the Taiwanese firm's products infringe on one Apple patent. While that case is still going on, the ITC did decide to reject Apple's request for an emergency ban on HTC's devices. We'll bring you more details on that case as well as all of the other ongoing legal battles as we get them.
