HTC is hitting Apple with another patent infringement lawsuit but this time it’s using patents that it obtained from Apple rival Google just last week.
According to Bloomberg: “HTC sued Apple today in federal court in Delaware, claiming infringement of four of those patents that originally were issued to Motorola. Taoyuan, Taiwan-based HTC also amended a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, alleging infringement of three patents first issued to Openwave and two others originally owned by Palm.”
What does this mean in the short term? Not much. I doubt we’ll see Apple products being pulled from U.S. stores any time soon and this is just the latest fight in the mobile patent war. Look for the lawyers to get rich and for HTC and Apple to eventually sign some form of cross-licensing agreement years down the road.
