What Apple vs. HTC Could Mean

The lawsuit that Apple filed on Tuesday against HTC, the mobile handset maker, opens up a lot of questions about the future of Android phones like the Nexus One and the cellphone market in general.

But it could also have an effect on consumers, specifically those who have purchased HTC Android phones. Jonathan Zittrain, a professor at Harvard Law School, outlines a similar case in his book "The Future of the Internet — and How to Stop It." In 2004, TiVo sued the satellite TV distributor EchoStar, accusing the company of infringing on its patent on DVR technology. After some drawn-out litigation, TiVo ended up winning the case, and a Texas judge ordered EchoStar to disable the DVR functions on most of its set-top boxes. An appeals court is reviewing the matter. "The judge simply ordered EchoStar to connect to the DVR boxes via the Web and destroy the functionality," Mr. Zittrain told me in an interview. "Patent law is a completely different universe online. That means if the court were to side with Apple and issue an injunction that insists HTC kill the phone, or at least some of its functionality, they easily could." A ruling that would call on HTC to kill the whole phone does seem highly unlikely, especially given the prominence of the companies involved.