Apple sues HTC for smartphone patent violations

Apple has launched a lawsuit against HTC, claiming that the smartphone maker has violated some of its patents that relate to hardware and user interface design. The suit has been filed with both the US District Court and a complaint also lodged with the International Trade Commission, which suggest that Apple will be looking to prevent HTC from importing products allegedly covered by the patents into the USA.

The legal documents list some 20 Apple patents in all and while most were granted in 2009, some date from both last month and 1995. Apple has only been selling the iPhone since 1995, of course, while HTC has been manufacturing smartphones for other vendors since 1997 (and started selling devices under its own brand in 2006).

The patents cover a wide range of hardware and software features, including power management for components, input sensing, gesture-based device unlocking even the way in which icons automatically rearrange themselves. 10 of the patent infringements are lodged in the ITC complaint, which also lists HTC devices that Apple thinks make use of them. These include both Windows Mobile and Google Android-based smartphones.

In an official Apple statement, CEO Steve Jobs said: "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. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."

As you might expect, there’s no shortage of speculation about the reasons behind this lawsuit, and its timing — the recent addition of multi-touch support on the Google Nexus One is thought to be one possible trigger.

There’s also some debate about the validity of some of the patents — the gesture-based unlock patent, granted last month, seems to have many examples of prior art that would invalidate it, for example. The point, however, is that Apple still holds the patent, although this case could lead to some of those patents being reexamined.

Engadget has the best breakdown of the case so far and its lengthy analysis of the legal claims by a practising lawyer makes for interesting reading. Equally interesting, particularly in the light of this legal action, is this video of Steve Jobs from 1996, in which he says: “We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas.”

It's also worth noting that Nokia is currently suing Apple over what it claims are 10 patent violations in the iPhone.

HTC has yet to make an official comment on the case, but Google has reportedly pledged to back the maker of its Nexus One smartphone. In a statement to TechCrunch, a Google representative said: “We are not a party to this lawsuit. However, we stand behind our Android operating system and the partners who have helped us to develop it.”

If you’re having trouble sleeping, here’s the full list of patents mentioned in both filings from Apple:

U.S. District Court in Delaware lawsuit

• 5455599: Object-Oriented Graphic System
• 5848105: GMSK Signal Processors For Improved Communications Capacity And Quality
• 5920726: System And Method For Managing Power Conditions Within A Digital Camera Device
• 6424354: Object-Oriented Event Notification System With Listener Registration Of Both Interests And Methods
• 7362331: Time-Based, Non-Constant Translation Of User Interface Objects Between States
• 7383453: Conserving Power By Reducing Voltage Supplied To An Instruction-Processing Portion Of A Processor
• 7469381: List Scrolling And Document Translation, Scaling, And Rotation On A Touch-Screen Display
• 7479949: Touch Screen Device, Method, And Graphical User Interface For Determining Commands By Applying Heuristics
• 7633076: Automated Response To And Sensing Of User Activity In Portable Devices
• 7657849: Unlocking A Device By Performing Gestures On An Unlock Image

U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) lawsuit

• 5481721: Method for Providing Automatic and Dynamic Translation of Object Oriented Programming Language-Based Message Passing Into Operating System Message Passing Using Proxy Objects
• 5519867: Object-Oriented Multitasking System
• 5566337: Method and Apparatus for Distributing Events in an Operating System
• 5915131: Method and Apparatus for Handling I/O Requests Utilizing Separate Programming Interfaces to Access Separate I/O Services
• 5929852: Encapsulated Network Entity Reference of a Network Component System
• 5946647: System and Method for Performing an Action on a Structure in Computer-Generated Data
• 5969705: Message Protocol for Controlling a User Interface from an Inactive Application Program
• 6275983: Object-Oriented Operating System
• 6343263: Real-Time Signal Processing System for Serially Transmitted Data
• RE39486: Extensible, Replaceable Network Component Systems