The latest patent legal fight has started today with Bloomberg reporting that smartphone maker HTC has filed a new lawsuit against Apple. Taiwan-based HTC claims that Apple is in violation of several patents that it now holds the rights to. The twist? Those same patents were purchased by HTC just last week from one of Apple's big smartphone OS rivals, Google. All nine of the patents were originally filed by several other companies.
In the lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Delaware, HTC claims that Apple is in violation of four patents that were first filed by Motorola. Another three patents that Apple is accused of violating were first developed by Openwave. Two other patents mentioned in the lawsuit originated at the now defunct Palm company. HTC sent a statement to News.com, saying, "HTC will continue to protect its patented inventions against infringement from Apple until such infringement stops. We believe that we have an obligation to protect our business, our industry partners and our customers, who love using our products."
Apple has been on the offensive lately, legally speaking. The company has been filing lots of patent complaints over the past several months against a number of groups, including HTC. Its most public patent battle so far has been with Samsung, who Apple has accused of violating patents relating to the design of the cases and user interface of a number of Samsung's smartphones and tablets. Apple has been successful in filing injunctions that have served to ban sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab devices in Australia and parts of Europe.
37 Comments - Add comment