Beware, if you are planning to manufacture a tablet that is quadrilateral (read as rectangular) in shape, has buttons or touchscreen of a good finesse, then you might find Apple lawyers knocking at your doors.
The same happened with a small company called NT-K. It is a Spanish company making elegant, four smooth edged, touch tablets. Well Apple thinks this is a violation of their intellectual property and their ingenious designs.
Apparently, I fail to understand why an ergonomically sane company would make a device with sharp corners. This could well harm the owner. But if we believe Apple, then the universal right to make such gadgets that don’t harm the owners reside with it. Hell what, even if your touch is as good as their, and your UI as slick as theirs, you are a criminal to be damned for all eternity.
Well let us get back to the topic, According to FOSS Patents,
Apple accused nt-k in November 2010 of "copying" the iPad and went straight for a customs ban. As a result, Spanish customs seized shipments from China containing nt-k’s Android-based tablet. The little company temporarily appeared on an EU-wide list of product pirates, but worst of all, after some correspondence between the two companies, Apple also brought criminal charges on December 9, 2010 (as it had previously threatened in writing).
The Spanish company’s blog suggests that other small companies got a similar treatment from Apple but gave in. nt-k, however, didn’t want to be bullied and decided to defend itself vigorously. Another company doing so against Apple is a small German device maker named JAY-tech.
This makes very clear that Apple uses it’s might, not to create fair competition, but to subdue the smaller fish with sheer force.
What makes Apple’s lawyers insanely retard is
…In the meantime, the criminal lawsuit progressed, and based on the first-instance ruling, Apple’s charges were dismissed because the judge didn’t conclude that there was "sufficient justification" for a criminal case.
Even a blind imbecile knows when criminal charges are put on people, let alone corporations.
Well, NT-K, after kicking Apple lawyers right in the hemorrhoids, is now demanding compensation. It is asking for compensation for monetary damages, losses that NT-K has suffered, and the “moral damages” Apple has inflicted upon them and the whole small time OEMs.
We are hoping that other firms will take a cue from NT-K and will solidify their stance against Apple.
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Not much has been hard about the MWC’s future location in the last few months – there were four cities still in the race, one of which being the ever-more deteriorating venue in Barcelona.
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