Apple is claiming that
HTC violated 20 of its patents surrounding
the iPhone’s interface, architecture and hardware, in a lawsuit filed March 2
with the U.S. International Trade Commission and 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," Apple CEO Steve
Jobs wrote in a March 2 statement posted on Apple’s Website. "We think
competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original
technology, not steal ours."
HTC unveiled several
smartphones at January’s Mobile World Congress show
that feature a full touch screen, including the
HTC HD2,
HTC Desire, and the
HTC Legend. Its
HTC Droid Eris, released alongside the
Motorola Droid in the fourth quarter of 2009, also utilizes a full touch screen
with a minimum of mechanical buttons. Apple’s lawsuit may focus on
HTC’s use of this particular form-factor,
which is reminiscent of the iPhone.
The lawsuit would not be the first filed by Apple against another handset
maker in recent months. Since October 2009, Apple and Nokia have been filing back-and-forth
complaints over patent infringement, with Apple requesting that the International Trade Commission ban Nokia
from importing phones that allegedly violated its intellectual
property.
"Legal claims followed by multiple counterclaims are commonplace and they
can drag out the legal process for some time," Neil Mawston, an analyst with
Strategy Analytics, told eWEEK in January. "It seems Nokia and Apple have been
unable to agree on licensing terms in private over the past few months, so both
firms have resorted to legal action in public courts as a next step."
Nokia has entered into licensing agreements for its mobile technology
with around 40 companies, and apparently began seeking royalties from Apple in
May 2009. Apple reportedly refused to negotiate, leading Nokia to file its complaint and begin the
chain-reaction of legal action.
Meanwhile, if these companies’ legal firms hadn’t been racking up enough
billable hours, the International Trade Commission decided to open an
investigation in January into Kodak’s claim that both Research In Motion, makers
of the popular BlackBerry line, and Apple had violated its intellectual
property related to digital
cameras. Kodak claimed that those companies’ smartphones featured built-in
camera modules that infringed a Kodak patent for previewing images. Kodak filed
two suits on Jan. 16 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New
York.
Companies can avoid these sort of intellectual-property lawsuits through
cross-licensing agreements, which occasionally have the side benefit of forging
stronger partnerships between ostensible rivals. Amazon.com and Microsoft, for
example, recently agreed to allow each other access to patents covering a wide
range of technology. However, patent-infringement suits can also be utilized to
meet business goals.
Enterprise Mobility News & Reviews 
