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Apple sues HTC over phones with Google software
(Saudi Economic Survey (Saudi Arabia) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) A pple sued Taiwan's HTC Corp, which makes touch-screen smart-phones using Google software, accusing it of infring- ing 20 hardware and software patents related to the iPhone. Even though the suit did not name Google as a defendant, Apple's move was viewed by many analysts as proxy for an attack on the Internet company, whose Nexus One smart-phone is manufactured by HTC. "I think this is kind of an indirect lawsuit against Google," said Kaufman Bros analyst Shaw Wu.
Apple's suit was iled with both the US International Trade Commission and the US District Court in Delaware, and seeks to prohibit HTC from selling, marketing or distributing infringing products in the United States.
The complaint iled with the ITC cited Google's Nexus One, which was launched in January, and other HTC phones such as the Hero, Dream and myTouch -- which run on Google's Android mobile operating system - as infringing products.
In a statement, a Google spokeswoman said: "We are not a party to this lawsuit. However, we stand behind our Android operating system and the partners who have helped us to develop it." HTC said in a statement that it was looking at the ilings. "HTC values patent rights and their enforcement but is also committed to defending its own technology innovations," spokesman Keith Nowak said.
Apple's move comes amid fierce competition in the smart-phone market, as new players angle for a piece of the fast-growing segment. Mark Simpson, a patent at- torney with law irm Saul Ewing in Philadelphia, said HTC made for an easier target than Google. "It's probably simpler for them to go after the company making the infringing goods, which is HTC. It's easier to prove at this point," he said. MKM Partners analyst Tero Kuittinen agreed. "HTC is an optimal target for Apple -- it's a relatively small vendor with a weak brand.
It may be easier to push around than Samsung (which also makes Android smart-phones). One question here is whether Apple can intimidate operators to back away from new HTC products by lashing the possibility of litigation trouble." Apple said HTC "knowingly induce(s) users of accused HTC Android products" to infringe on a number of Apple's patents, some dating back to the mid-1990s. They cover user interface processes and other software and hardware components.
(c) 2010 Saudi Economic Survey. All rights reserved. Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company
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