Legal battles for patent infringement continue with the latest lawsuit slapped against HTC by Apple on behalf of the iPhone.
Apple filed a lawsuit against HTC for infringing on 20 Apple
patents related to the iPhone's user interface, underlying architecture
and hardware.
The lawsuit was filed concurrently with the U.S.
International Trade Commission (ITC) and in 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."
"HTC values patent rights and their enforcement but is also
committed to defending its own technology innovations," and HTC
spokeswoman said in a statement. "HTC only learned of Apple's actions
this morning via media reports, and therefore we have not yet had the
opportunity to investigate the filings. Until we have had this
opportunity, we are unable to comment on the validity of the claims
being made against HTC."
This is one of many lawsuits between smartphone makers, making a big
legal tangle of who designed and patented what technology first.