Apple Chief Patent Lawyer Leaves After Android Loss 101
Hugh Pickens writes "PC Magazine reports that Richard Lutton, Apple's current chief patent lawyer, is reportedly leaving the company after failing to block Android manufacturers from using iPhone-like features. 'It's possible that Apple's leadership wants the patent department to become more effective, especially in terms of litigation,' says intellectual property analyst Florian Mueller. 'They are probably disappointed that the first ITC complaint against HTC didn't go too well.' ... In addition Apple is aggressively seeking an injunction on Samsung's flagship Galaxy lineup."
Samsung also happens to be displeased with Apple using their former legal counsel.
Apple playing dirty (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:More spam from Florian Mueller (Score:4, Interesting)
Exactly what I'm thinking. I've read coverage of this on 2-3 other sites today, and none of them indicated there was anything unusual about what was going on or that anything should be read into it. When higher-ups at Apple leave on poor terms, it's much more dramatic than this. You don't even have to look hard to find examples, since the breakups were so explosive. There's Fred Anderson, the former CFO and interim CEO who got embroiled with the SEC and made accusations against Steve Jobs (blasphemy!); Jon Rubenstein, who became the CEO of Palm and publicly made some harsh jabs at Apple while launching webOS; and Mark Papermaster, who was forced out during the antennagate brouhaha with the iPhone 4 last year.
The timing with the HTC ruling that didn't go their way is likely coincidental, since it's just one minor ruling amongst dozens of cases that they have going on. You don't oust someone that high up over something that small, and Apple wins at least as often as it loses in court, so there's no reason his departure should signal internal legal troubles at Apple. Hell, we even had an article on /. just yesterday about how they fired off another round of attacks at HTC, and it mentioned that they had made similar attacks against Samsung not long before that.
The guy probably just left because he got a better job offer. That does happen, as most of us here should know.