| HTC Says It Will Fight Apple Lawsuit |
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18/03/2010 14:00 (695 Day 06:01 minutes ago) | |||||
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The FINANCIAL -- High Tech Computer (HTC) on March 18 announced that it will use every means possible to fight a patent infringement lawsuit brought by iPhone maker Apple Inc. Apple sued the Taiwanese phonemaker this month accusing it of infringing 20 hardware and software patents related to the iPhone.
HTC makes phones based on software from Apple's archrivals Google Inc and from Microsoft Corp., Reuters reports. "We feel confident in our innovation and our ability to defend ourselves in this case," Jason Mackenzie, vice president for HTC's U.S. business said in an interview. Mackenzie declined to go into detail about how HTC will defend itself except to say the company would issue a formal response in the next few weeks.
"HTC strongly disagrees with Apple's actions. We plan to use all the legal tools we have at our disposal to both defend ourselves and set the record straight," Mackenzie said, according to the same source. While Apple's lawsuit did not name Google as a defendant, the case was viewed by many analysts as a proxy for an attack on Google, whose operating system powers many phones made by HTC, including Nexus One, which Google sells directly. Mackenzie declined comment on this aspect of the case and suggested directing such questions at Apple.
The company also outlined its history of firsts in the smartphone business, from the first Windows-based PDA in 1998 and Windows phone in 2002 to the first smartphone based on Google's Android mobile operating system in 2008, PC World reports. HTC, which opened in 1997, also noted that its first touchscreen smartphones, the XDA and T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Phone Edition, both shipped in 2002. The iPhone debuted in 2007.
"From day one, HTC has focused on creating cutting-edge innovations that deliver unique value for people looking for a smartphone," said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC, in a statement, according to the same source. "[We] will continue to respect other innovators and their technologies as we have always done, but we will continue to embrace competition through our own innovation as a healthy way for consumers to get the best mobile experience possible," he added.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Google and Apple are increasingly at odds as they expand in the mobile phone market. On Tuesday, Google released a new version of its Nexus One phone that can run on the faster nationwide network of AT&T Inc., the iPhone's exclusive carrier in the U.S. The original version of the Nexus One didn't work on AT&T's 3G network.
HTC wouldn't say what support if any Google is providing it to fight the suit. The device maker has yet to file a response in court and declined to say when it might do so. A Google spokeswoman said Google is "proud" of all its Android partners, but wouldn't comment specifically on the case, according to the same source. HTC only found out about the suit through the media, said McKenzie. "We were quite surprised by the case and the allegations when they came out," he said.
The Seattle Times reports that Apple accused HTC of making and selling products that "incorporate, without license, many technologies developed by Apple and protected by patents issued to and owned by Apple and its wholly owned subsidiaries, including NeXT."
It asked the trade commission to block the importation of a number of phones, including the Nexus One that HTC makes for Google, the myTouch 3G sold by T-Mobile, the Droid Eris sold by Verizon and the new HD2 based on Windows Mobile, according to the same source.
PC World reports that lawsuits appear to be in vogue in the smartphone industry. There are currently a number of suits, including Nokia versus Apple, Apple versus Nokia, KODAK versus Apple and Research In Motion (RIM), Motorola versus RIM, and the list goes on.
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