Turnabout is fair play. Only a few months ago Apple sued HTC and filed a complaint, which is still under investigation, with the International Trade Commission (ITC). Â HTC is now turning the tables, filing their own complaint with ITC alleging five instances of patent infringements, and seeking to halt importation of iPad, iPhone, and iPod devices. Here’s the full press release from HTC:
Seattle – May 12, 2010 – HTC Corporation today took legal action against Apple Inc., filing a complaint with the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) to halt the importation and sale of the iPhone, iPad and iPod in the United States.
“As the innovator of the original Windows Mobile PocketPC Phone 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, vice president of North America, HTC Corporation. “We are taking this action against Apple to protect our intellectual property, our industry partners, and most importantly our customers that use HTC phones.â€
HTC’s commitment to innovation has continued for more than a decade as it has focused on building a portfolio of the world’s most advanced smartphones that are inspired by consumers and provide them with a variety of choices in software, design, form-factor, price and wireless carrier. Today, consumers in the United States can choose between 12 HTC smartphones with the national wireless carriers. HTC has continuously strived to bring innovative smartphone choices to consumers, like the recently unveiled HTC EVO 4G with Sprint, DROID Incredible by HTC with Verizon Wireless and the HTC HD2 with T-Mobile. For more information on HTC’s long-standing commitment to consumers innovation and choice go to: www.htc.com/quietlybrilliant
It’s unclear at this point what the patent infringements are, though it can be expected that information will be coming out in the coming days. Â It will definitely be interesting to see how both cases develop.
[Source HTC]