Apple sues HTC for patent violations

It's a festival of lawsuits. This morning Apple has announced it is going after Taiwan based phone giant HTC for infringing on 20 patents concerning the iPhone user interface and the underlying hardware and architecture. The lawsuit was filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission and in the U.S. District Court in Delaware.

"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 Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."

Although the Google Android phone is not mentioned in the lawsuit, HTC makes several Android handsets, and the touchscreen models look quite a bit like the iPhone screen. HTC has not yet reacted to the lawsuit.

Apple's lawyers are busy. There is ongoing litigation with Nokia over patents and technology licensing.

For more detailed dissection of each of the patent claims, check out Engadget's post.
Share