Apple is suing HTC in Taiwan over an alleged violation of some 20 patents owned by Apple, pertaining to HTC cell-phone technology that uses the Google-owned Android operating system. Included in the lawsuit is the Nexus One phone, designed and sold by Google.
The lawsuit, filed on March 2 with the office of the US International Trade Commission and the US District Court in Delaware, alleges that HTC violated a series of patents owned by Apple, including those relating to the iPhone's capacity to recognize the touch of multiple fingers on its screen at once.
Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive, was quoted saying "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."
Legal experts have said that the lawsuit hinges on the defendant's ability to prove "prior art" applications that might suggest the innovations Apple is attempting to protect are less unique than claimed.
I agree with Apple to a certain extent on this issue. The fact of the matter is that they are the first to introduce a phone that eliminated all buttons and other physical controls, through the introduction of the iPhone. Ever since the iPhone was launched, a lot of companies have tried to copy its image and design, including Blackberry and Samsung. Although these companies can claim that the development of touch-based mobile phones has long been there before the iPhone, there is no denying that Apple was indeed the first to take the risk.
As far as the patent is concerned, i doubt that Apple will be able to prove that they were infact the first ever company to develop the concept.
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