It appears that the patent infringement battlefield between Apple and HTC is getting more bloody with no truce in sight, as the latest word in the fight is that HTC has now files a new complaint with the US International Trade Commission claiming Apple infringes HTC patents no only with their iOS devices but with their Mac computers as well.
According to an article over on Engadget, HTC filed their new complaint with the US ITC in the District court of Deleware, and the complaint covers the iPhone, iPod Touch and Apple iPad lines along with Apple’s Mac computer products.
The general counsel for HTC Corp, Grace Lei says, “We are taking this action against Apple to protect our intellectual property, our industry partners, and most importantly our customers that use HTC phones. This is the 3rd 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.”
The patents that are claimed by HTC as being infringed by Apple are US Patent Nos, 7,417,944 — 7,672,219 and 7, 765, 414, apparently covering Apples iOS devices and Mac products, specifically WiFi networking features along with a combination of mobile phone and PDA functionality.
Last we heard of course was that HTC has filed a complaint against Apple in the United Kingdom after the US ITC came down on Apple’s side and found HTC infringed on 2 of Apple’s patents. This was followed by the US ITC stating they would investigate Apple’s latest complaint against HTC that covers “Portable Electronic Devices and Related Software.”
So there you have it, HTC takes another bite at Apple, which undoubtedly will result in Apple biting back as hard as they can and we’ll no doubt see this patent fighting continuing for a whole lot longer yet until these two can actually get round a table and sort out their differences.
Having said that, for Apple to get round the tablet will all they are currently battling with it would have to be a pretty big tablet, and probably and even bigger table to accommodate the legions of lawyers that would be on hand to stop everyone strangling each other.
I do have to say though that all these legal fights do seem to be taking over the mobile space rather than concentrating on new devices, and that can’t be good for business or the public.