Administrative Law Judge Thomas Pender has told HTC that it can’t actually sue Apple using patents owned by another company. Per Florian Mueller at FOSS Patents, it seems that HTC had paid Google some cash to temporarily borrow intellectual property that the company then used as a counterattack against Apple, which has been the leading crusader against Android vendors in patent suits. Mueller notes that this “rent-a-patent” model has been employed by other firms, including patent-collecting firm Open Invention Network, as a tactic to sue big tech companies such as Microsoft. Assuming Pender’s ruling holds, this could force a major strategy shift for IP plaintiffs in the future.

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