HTC attacks Apple with Google’s patents

Facing repeated attacks from Apple, HTC has now organised itself and fired back – this time with the support of patents recently acquired by Google - by filing a new complaint against Apple.

While Google has never been attacked by Apple for patent violations concerning the Android platform, the search giant has been collecting patents over the last few quarters to reinforce the intellectual property used in their mobile OS to help their partners defend themselves.

This principal has now been directly called upon with a new complaint now being filed by HTC against Apple... through the use of nine patents held by Google, with four of these coming from Motorola (obtained before the announced acquisition of the company), three coming from Openwave and two from Palm, with all of these transferred to HTC at the end of August.


HTC counter-attacks with Google’s support
A patent violation complaint has been filed with the ITC (International Trade Commission) in a court in Delaware. For this "joint" action, Google will finally demonstrate their support of partner Smartphone manufacturers. Florian Mueller, blogger and intellectual property specialist believes this will expose Google to greater confrontation with Apple.

HTC has used the four patents obtained from Motorola by Google in their filing in the Delaware court, while the other five patents complementing the existing request. The filing concerns Apple’s mobile products and Mac computers, with it being based on various software synchronisation and data transfer aspects.

This new initiative also signals the industry’s ongoing legal concerns, with some players starting to admit that the multiplications of legal filings are starting to become over bearing.