HTC has announced it is suing Apple for infringing five of its patents in the US.
The Taiwanese firm is seeking an injunction against the import and sale of the iPhone, iPad and iPod in the US, meaning this war could quickly escalate.
"As the innovator of the original Windows Mobile PocketPC Phone Edition in 2002 and the first Android smartphone in 2008, HTC believes the industry should be driven by healthy competition and innovation that offer consumers the best, most accessible mobile experiences possible," said Jason Mackenzie, VP of North America for HTC.
"We are taking this action against Apple to protect our intellectual property, our industry partners, and most importantly our customers that use HTC phones."
Tit-for-tat
HTC won't comment on which patents are infringed, but it must assume they're pretty meaty if it's to defeat the volume of infringements Apple is alleging HTC is committing.
It seems likely that this counter-suing stance is the result of its agreement with Microsoft recently to license key patents from the Redmond group - with this power behind it HTC is ready to try and beat Apple at its own game.
We're sure the attempt to stop Apple importing into the US will mean this comes to court quickly - we just hope it doesn't drag on for years and years and the two brands come to a settlement soon and concentrating on making great smartphones.
Your comments (6) Click to add a new comment
windymiller
May 13th 2010
6. Good old apple,still digging that hole.How many companies do they want to p!ss off.Whats next?suing everybody whilst claiming they invented rectangle shaped phones?
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aristaeus
May 13th 2010
5. Apple (and all companies, really) live in "legal glass houses". So perhaps starting to throw rocks at others was not such a wise course of action after all for Steve "the narcissist" Jobs.
Apple, Microsoft, and other aggressive corporate bullies could learn a lot by studying basic game theory (and I am not referring to the "Xbox", or the "iPhone" toys here). "Trust" is the missing part of the equation that separates companies from being able to realize the much higher gains that can be made through COOPERATION, instead of being forced into a "prisoner's dilemma" situation where they spend huge amounts on lawsuits and patent attacks, and alienate other business partners and their customers in the process.
If companies (like HTC, and perhaps Microsoft and Google) are pushed into a corner by Apple, Apple could cease to exist in the business world quite quickly (despite Steve Jobs' delusions of grandeur). If more companies could try the cooperative, "non-evil" route -- like Google seems to demonstrate -- our business world (and the world in general) would be a much more functional place.
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paulczar
May 13th 2010
4. @healeydave, Remember that HTC have been making smartphones for alot longer than Apple and most other current smartphone manufacturers. So i'm sure they'll have been able to think of something to sue apple about.
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healeydave
May 13th 2010
3. Hmmmm, filing is one thing, but I have my doubts HTC has any real meat on any bones, I think they're just trying to counter strike but do their cannons actually have any ammo???
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bradavon
May 12th 2010
2. Stick that Jobs, where the sun doesn't shine!
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jkr284
May 12th 2010
1. eat crow stevy!!
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