Apple’s Patent Infringement Against HTC

Posted by A Ocean on March 8, 2010 in Mobile · 1 Comment

Image via Wikipedia

After dragging Nokia to court for patent infringement, Apple has sued HTC over their alleged infringement of 20 patents related to the iPhone user interface, architecture and hardware. Steve Jobs who is known for not mincing his words said that HTC is stealing their technology.

“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. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”

And no surprises for guessing that even though Android and Google are not mentioned anywhere, it’s an attack against Android as the complaint with ITC ( International Trade Comission) points towards the alleged infringement by various HTC Android phones such as Google branded Nexus One, Magic3G, Dream/G1 and Hero, it goes further by seeking a permanent injunction that would stop HTC from selling devices in the United States.

By suing HTC, which has the biggest range of Android operated devices, Apple is sending a clear message to other manufacturers to deter them from using the Google’s phone operating system.

It will be interesting to see how HTC is going to react and the impact this will have on other phone makers incorporating Android.