HTC Fires Back at Apple with Lawsuit, Claims Company Copied Five Patents

After Microsoft Corp. took HTC's side in its legal tussle with Apple (News - Alert) Inc. over intellectual property, namely a lawsuit claiming HTC violated 20 patents related to the iPhone, I thought the drama would die down somewhat.

But apparently, in HTC's (News - Alert) minds, two wrongs do make a right. According to reports, HTC has filed a patent infringement case against Apple and asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to ban U.S. sales of iPhones, iPads and iPods.

"As the innovator of the original Windows Mobile PocketPC Phone (News - Alert) Edition in 2002 and the first Android smartphone in 2008, HTC believes the industry should be driven by healthy competition and innovation that offer consumers the best, most accessible mobile experiences possible," said Jason Mackenzie, HTC's vice president for North America in a statement to the press.

In addition to the 20 supposed patents HTC copied from Apple, mimicking the iPhone (News - Alert), apparently HTC has a bone to pick regarding five HTC patents that Apple supposedly infringed.

"We are taking this action against Apple to protect our intellectual property, our industry partners, and most importantly, our customers that use HTC phones," Mackenzie said.

Escalating the lawsuits now to a more "he said, she said" type debate, HTC, which makes several Android (News - Alert) phones including the new Droid Incredible, now has somewhat of a leg to stand on regarding the issue, having ammo to fire back with to Apple.

Apple's lawsuits, which were filed in March of this year, were made before the commission and in U.S. District Court.