Apple sues HTC for patent infringement

 

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Posted on 3 Mar 2010 at 11:18

Apple has filed a lawsuit against HTC, the Taiwanese company who is the largest manufacturer of Android powered smartphones, including the Google-branded Nexus One.

"We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We've decided to do something about it," said Apple honcho Steve Jobs. "We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."

The lawsuit alleges that HTC has infringed on 20 Apple patents relating to the iPhone's user interface, underlying architecture and hardware but, interestingly, it's only related to handsets running Google's Android operating system.

This could, in many ways, be an indirect attack on Google - once a close ally of Apple's when Google CEO Eric Schmidt sat on Apple's board. The two are now fighting for supremacy in the smartphone market, a device which is seen by many as the next personal computer.

HTC said that it "values patent rights and their enforcement but is also committed to defending its own technology innovations" but hadn't had chance to review Apple's allegations.

Google also released its own statement, saying that it backed its Android partners. "We are not party to this lawsuit. However, we stand behind our Android operating system and the partners who have helped us to develop it," it read.

The iPhone was originally released in 2007 and has gained a significant following since then as more than 40 million handsets have been sold since its introduction. Its slick interface and advertisements have helped Apple wow customers with a handset virtually unmatched by any other device.

Other devices from manufacturers including Samsung, Research in Motion, Motorola and HTC have since caught up with the iPhone's capabilities, in some ways duplicating its capabilities by relying almost entirely on multi-touch. Apple believes that its multi-touch patent portfolio gives it the legal leverage to slow down Google's Android operating system.

Aside from multi-touch, Apple alleges that HTC has violated patents relating to how users can unlock their phone's touch screen by swiping their finger over an image of a lock. Apple also said that it owns patents on how users can scroll through a list by moving their finger down the screen.

This one is likely to go on for some time and, as with all patent cases, it's likely we'll see some kind of out of court settlement when the two start talking. Of course, HTC (and maybe Google) will hope that they can find evidence that Apple's innovations were not particularly new so that they don't have to resort to an out of court settlement.

Author: Tim Smalley