近日，美国国际贸易委员会（U.S. International Trade Commission）作出裁决，台湾手机厂商宏达电（HTC）侵犯了苹果公司（Apple）的一项软件专利。利用这项技术，用户可以通过点击内嵌在电子邮件中的电话号码，直接完成拨号操作。裁决一出，宏达电发表声明说，这对于它而言实际上“是场胜利”。而业内诸多评论人士对此声明亦缺乏深入的理解。宏达电还表示，上述功能不过是苹果公司断言属于它的10项专利之一。而且，搭载谷歌安卓系统的宏达电手机已经找到了移除该特性的办法。

    现在看来，出于同样的原因，摩托罗拉公司（Motorola）很可能也得在其手机上放弃一个功能。利用该功能，用户可在智能手机图片库中随意浏览翻页，或者直接点击放大其中的某一页。美国专利博客网站FOSS Patents的弗洛里恩•穆勒表示，慕尼黑的一家法院很可能将于本周二（今天）做出裁决，摩托罗拉的安卓手机也侵犯了苹果公司的这项专利。今年8月，荷兰一家法院已经裁定另一家安卓手机厂商三星公司（Samsung）放弃这项特性。

    无论在上述哪个案例中，苹果都未能置对手于死地。但是，穆勒称，在这场消耗战中，苹果在不断向前推进，而安卓手机厂商每次都被迫修改一项智能手机特性，以避免侵犯苹果的原创设计。穆勒还接着说，这一切正是史蒂夫•乔布斯一直希望看到的。

    “尽管一两次此类胜利尚不足以改变消费者的使用偏好，”穆勒写道，“但是，如果能够巩固6项甚至更多这类专利的所有权，最终累加的效果就会对用户体验产生可观的影响。”

    穆勒说，苹果是在为长远的发展机遇而战。

    “只要没有巨大的压力，苹果完全有时间逐个击破，一个国家一个国家地推进。在这种此消彼长的竞争中，稳扎稳扎远比毕其功于一役来得重要。”

    译者：大海

    Many commentators took at face value HTC's declaration of "an actual victory" after the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled that it had infringed Apple's (AAPL) patent on software that allowed a user to dial a number embedded in an e-mail simply by clicking on it. That particular feature was only one of 10 patents Apple had tried to assert, HTC argued, and the Taiwanese manufacturer of Google (GOOG) Android phones had already found a way to remove it.

    Now it looks like Motorola (MOT) may have to do something similar about Apple's patented method of flipping through pages in a smartphone photo gallery and zooming in on a particular image. According to FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller, a court in Munich is likely to rule in February that Motorola's Android phones infringe this patent as well. Another Android phone manufacturer -- Samsung -- was already forced to drop the feature by a Dutch court's injunction in August.

    Neither case constitutes a knockout blow for Apple, but Mueller argues that the company is making headway in a war of attrition in which Android manufacturers have to modify their smartphones one feature at a time to work around Apple's original ideas -- which, he says, is what Steve Jobs wanted all along.

    "While one or two wins of this kind won't be enough to change consumer preferences," Mueller writes, "the aggregate effect of the enforcement of half a dozen or more patents of this kind could make an appreciable difference in user experience."

    Apple, he says, is fighting for long-term opportunities.

    "As long as it doesn't come under enormous pressure, it can afford to crack one nut at a time, country by country. In this you-win-some-you-lose-some game, a substantial drop-out rate is less important than steady progress."