Although the ITC ruled that HTC infringed on Apple's iPhone patent No. 647, it rejected other patent infringement allegations by Apple against HTC Android phones. HTC has four months to appeal; they stated they had already prepared a response plan unrelated to patent No. 647, which involves the display of phone numbers and other formatted data in documents such as emails.
However, some analysts believe that the temporary impact of this ruling should not be overlooked. Brian Marshall, an analyst at the U.S. investment firm ISI Group, wrote: "This decision further reinforces Apple's belief that Android phones infringe on Apple's intellectual property, giving Apple a stronger position in other lawsuits against Android manufacturers."
Other analysts have not made definitive judgments. William Power, an analyst at securities firm R.W. Baird, believes: "Although at first glance it seems like Apple lost and HTC won, given HTC's adopted measures and future legal strategies, the full impact of this ruling is still unclear."
Although on the surface it appears Apple won the lawsuit, some analysts think HTC was actually the loser. Confusingly, the stock prices of both parties involved in the lawsuit rose. HTC's stock price rose by NT$31 on Tuesday at the Tainan Stock Exchange, reaching NT$476, a 7% increase; Google's stock also rose by $7.47 on Tuesday, reaching $629.30, a 1% increase.
Analysts believe that although Apple succeeded in the lawsuit, most of their goals through litigation were not achieved. Mike Abramsky, an analyst at RBC Capital, said that the ITC's decision was "relatively minor for Apple, significantly weakening the reputation of the Android camp in the broader smartphone patents and field."
Pierre Ferragu, an analyst at U.S. investment company Sanford Bernstein, stated that this ruling had no impact on HTC's U.S. business. He said: "Many observers hastily concluded that Apple won the patent lawsuit. However, we believe the opposite: HTC and Android won their first victory. The ITC reduced the number of Apple patents HTC infringed upon from two to one and rejected many other patent infringement charges, which was a very disappointing result for Apple. At least from our analysis, this ruling had no effect on HTC’s U.S. business, leaving Apple quite frustrated. Apple just exercised in vain."
Xinhua News Agency reported that while Wall Street analysts had mixed reactions to the ITC's ruling that HTC infringed on one Apple patent, Apple's stock price still rose by $7.25 on Monday to $389.46, a 2% increase.