The tech industry has been plagued with patent suits for years, and now Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC is adding yet one more to the seemingly never-ending list.
The company filed suit against Apple in a district court in Florida for alleged patent infringement.
HTC reportedly refused to elaborate since the case has already entered the formal litigation stage.
But HTC claimed in a statement to a Taipei newspaper that Apple's MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and iPhone infringe on two patents concerning networks that HTC acquired from Hewlett-Packard last year.
The never-ending patent parade
It seems surreal at this point that any company can raise a new patent suit without realizing the apparent futility of such measures in gaining an edge in a consumer-oriented marketplace.
Nevertheless, tech companies continue to sue one another as if the courts and judges work for them and them alone.
Just two weeks ago the High Court in Britain ruled in favor of HTC in a suit Apple had brought to bear, ruling that three of the four patents raised by Apple in the case are invalid, and the fourth was not infringed by HTC.
But it seems HTC just loves to litigate, despite knowing firsthand how pointless such measures can prove.
Maybe their lawyers just needed something to do.
Apple is also embroiled in heated patent suits with Samsung (one of which they just lost), Motorola Mobility (a case that's been thrown out of court twice), probably every Android phone maker in existence, and NoiseFree, who recently sued Apple for alleged patent infringement, breach of contract and theft of trade secrets.
Apple and Samsung's roughly 30 cases against one another continue to rage in 10 separate countries, wasting hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars on what can only be seen as frivolous attempts to prevent the competition from pulling ahead.
A ban on Motorola devices won by Microsoft in another similar suit was ignored just yesterday, as the smartphone maker said it has no plans to stop selling the infringing Android phones.
And Nokia took RIM, the makers of Blackberry, to court earlier this month for another three alleged patent violations.
Even gaming consoles aren't immune to the insanity, with Microsoft only recently granted a reprieve in a case that could see the Xbox 360 banned from sale in the U.S.
Whether any of these companies will gain anything from these myriad suits besides legal bills the size of phone books is up to the courts.
Via Phys Org
