AppleGrandCentral: Apple's legal victory over HTC not expected to have a major effect

Apple's legal victory over HTC not expected to have a major effect

"Though the International Trade Commission has placed an injunction against HTC Android phones that infringe on Apple's intellectual property, the ruling is not expected to have a major effect on either HTC or Apple.

The ITC sided with Apple on Monday and placed an import ban on infringing HTC Android phones beginning on April 19, 2012. The ruling was based on Apple's patented invention for data detectors, which allow an operating system to recognize formatted data, like a phone number or e-mail address, within an unstructured document.

On Apple's iPhone and iPad, the invention allows users to see e-mail addresses and phone numbers as a hyperlink. Those links can be tapped to conduct a specific related action, like placing a phone call or composing an e-mail."