HTC Uses Patents Bought From HP To Countersue Apple

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Apple haters

Photo: Cult of Mac file

Another day, another patent infringement story. Today, HTC brought a couple of counterclaims against Apple in Florida over two patents it bought from HP last December.

The case they’re asserting the claims in is one that started in 2010, with a Motorola lawsuit against Apple. Six of the twelve Apple counterclaims in that lawsuit also concerned HTC. While HTC motioned to transfer the case out of Miami, they had to respond to those counterclaims. They did so by filing their own counterclaims.

According to FOSSPatents, HTC is claiming that Apple infringes a patent that HP applied for in 2002 that HTC now owns. This patent involves “installation of network services in an embedded network server,” and HTC claims that Apple infringes upon it with all of Apple’s devices, including desktop, laptop, and mobile products.

The second claim is on a “method and system for central management of a computer network, and HTC alleges that Apple’s Remote Desktop and Profile Manager and other products or services that include these products infringe upon the patent. HTC acquired this particular patent in 2011 from HP, who had acquired it in 2009.

It seems as if HTC is trying to reclaim some lost ground in court to perhaps balance out the loss at the International Trade Commission (ITC) recently when the trade regulatory body threw out five patents that HTC got from Google.

While all this back and forth may seem trivial at times, each step carries with it some weight, at least in the court of public opinion. Is it possible that consumers tired of the legal wrangling will choose different products that are not currently locked in battle? Probably not, but consumer perception can have an effect on any company’s bottom line. Let’s hope these legal issues resolve themselves sooner rather than later.

Source: FOSSPatents
Image: Android Development

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