HTC Apple Lawsuit: Google Closer to Patent War With Apple

By Laura Matthews | September 07 2011 7:25 PM

HTC filed infringement claims with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) against Apple on Wednesday using patents it got from Google last week.

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The new filing is an amended complaint filed previously with the ITC, and now cites nine new patents previously owned by Google but transferred to HTC on Sept. 1. The four patents were registered to Motorola. Motorola then transferred the patents to Google sometime over the past year.

The other five patents were previously owned by Palm and Openwave before Google took ownership and passed them to HTC.

HTC countersued Apple in May after the iPhone maker accused the company of infringing on 20 patents related to the iPhone with its own touch-screen devices.

Asia's second-biggest maker of smartphones sued Apple again in mid-August, claiming that products such as the Mac, iPhone and iPad infringe on three HTC patents.

Apple is yet to file a formal complaint against Google regarding the patent, but it has an ongoing infringement case pending against Motorola Mobility.

Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility is yet get regulatory approval, but it looks like Google is readying itself and its partners to protect Android against Apple and other companies that are out to get its platform.