Apple Sues HTC

Steve Jobs:

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.

Apple has issues with HTC and has requested “a permanent limited exclusion order prohibiting infringing mobile communication devices, and components thereof … from entry into the United States” to the ITC. HTC’s product list is long:

The “Accused HTC Android Products” include the HTC Nexus One, the HTC Dream (T-Mobile G1), the HTC Magic (HTC myTouch 3G), the HTC Hero, and the HTC Droid Eris. HTC’s products that include DSP functionality are roped in too: the HTC Touch Pro, the HTC Touch Diamond, the HTC Touch Pro2, the HTC Tilt II, the HTC Pure, the HTC HD2, and the HTC Imagio. (from Page 6, IV. THE TECHNOLOGY AND PRODUCTS AT ISSUE, #19-20)

And the patents that HTC is accused of infringing are:

• 5,481,721 (1-6, 19-22): Inter-process access to objects.
• 5,519,867 (1-3, 7, 12, 32): Object-oriented program execution on a computer.
• 5,566,337 (1, 3, 8-10, 12, 18-19, 23-24): Event notifications between different software elements in a computer.
• 5,929,852 (1-3, 7-13): Efficient access to remotely located computing resource.
• 5,946,647 (1, 3, 6, 8, 10, 13-16, 19-20, 22): Structure detection method.
• 5,969,705 (1): Software environment that allows foreground application to make use of background processes.
• 6,275,983 (1, 3, 7, 8, 22): Object-oriented program invocation of native system services.
• 6,343,263 (1-6, 24-25, 29-30): Provision of programming abstraction layers for real-time processing.
• 5,915,131 (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 15, 17): Usage of APIs for system services access.
• RE39,486 (1-3, 6, 8-9, 12, 14-17): “Component layers”-based computer system.

Source: Engadget