Apple sues HTC over infringement of iPhone related patents

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 03 March 2010 13:03

IT Industry - Strategy

Apple has filed suit with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) and the US District Court in Delaware about the alleged violation of multiple patents by mobile phone maker HTC.

According Apple, HTC is infringing on 20 Apple patents related to the iPhone's user interface, and its underlying architecture and hardware.

"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 Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

"We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours," he added.

The company has used similar language in the past. Announcing a countersuit against Nokia in late 2009, Apple general counsel and senior vice president Bruce Sewell said "Other companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours."

Patents referenced in Apple's latest filings include "Unlocking A Device By Performing Gestures On An Unlock Image" (US patent 7,657,849), "System And Method For Managing Power Conditions Within A Digital Camera Device" (5,920,726), "Conserving Power By Reducing Voltage Supplied To An Instruction-Processing Portion Of A Processor" (7,383,453), and "Object-Oriented Graphic System" (5,455,599).

What measures is Apple asking the court and commission to impose on HTC? See page 2.