Patent Wars: HTC Strikes Back at Apple with Google Patents

Smartphone titan HTC Corp. launched fresh intellectual-property claims against Apple on Thursday, using five of the nine patents it had received from Google last week as the basis of its lawsuit.

In August this year, the Taiwanese-based company accused Apple of patent infringement as part of an ongoing legal battle, which have seen both parties throwing barbs and counter-sueing each other.

Smartphone titan HTC Corp. launched fresh intellectual-property claims against Apple on Thursday, using five of the nine patents it had received from Google last week as the basis of its lawsuit.

In August this year, the Taiwanese-based company accused Apple of patent infringement as part of an ongoing legal battle, which have seen both parties throwing barbs and counter-sueing each other.

The latest set of patents bought from Google, were separately acquired by the global internet giant over the last 12 months from firms such as Palm and Motorola. Four of the patents were originally owned by Motorola but went to Google after it bought over Motorola Mobility just last month.

Related: Google to Buy Motorola Mobility, Hedge Against Patents Lawsuits

Google representatives have thus far refused to comment on the reasons or the cost behind the patents transfer, choosing instead to refer all questions to HTC. However, it appears as though Google’s action of acquiring multiple patents over the last 12 months have been intended to assist mobile phone manufacturers operating with its Android system in the battle against Apple.

“That’s a bit of a game-changer,” said Will Stofega, a technology analyst at Framingham, Massachusetts-based IDC, to Bloomberg. “Google was interested in protecting its licensees with Android. It shows they need to support their customers in order to make sure the customers stick with them.”

Unlike its Android partners, Google has yet to be sued directly by Apple over copyright infringement issues. However, Florian Mueller, a Munich-based consultant and intellectual property activist, warned that “this intervention on Google’s part increases the likelihood of direct litigation by Apple against Google.”

HTC on the other hand, is already sharpening its claws against Apple. In a lawsuit filed in US District Court in the state of Delaware, the Taiwanese smartphone maker charged that Apple violated three HTC-held patents in its Macintosh computers, iPods, iPhones, iPads and other products.

Apart from seeking damages, HTC has also asked the court to bar Apple from importing any devices found to be infringing the patents into the US.

“We are taking this action against Apple to protect our intellectual property, our industry partners, and most importantly our customers that use HTC phones,” said HTC general counsel Grace Lei, as quoted by AFP.

“This is the third case before the ITC in which Apple is infringing our intellectual property. Apple needs to stop its infringement of our patented inventions in its products.”