Fresh off defending itself again patent infringement charges filed by Nokia, Apple today filed a similar lawsuit against Taiwanese OEM HTC. Apple claims the maker of the myTouch 3G and Nexus One has infringed on a whopping 20 Apple patents related to the iPhone’s “user interface, underlying architecture and hardware.”
According to a press release from Apple, the lawsuit was filed concurrently with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and in U.S. District Court in Delaware.
“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 Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, in a statement. “We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”
Back in late December, Nokia charged Apple with having infringed upon seven of Nokia’s patents, covering that company’s UI, camera, antenna and power management technology. Paul Melin, general manager, Patent Licensing at Nokia, made comments similar to Jobs’ in the wake of filing that suit.
“This action is about protecting the results of such pioneering development,” Melin said. “While our litigation in Delaware is about Apple’s attempt to free-ride on the back of Nokia investment in wireless standards, the ITC case filed today is about Apple’s practice of building its business on Nokia’s proprietary innovation.”
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