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HTC, a manufacturer of several phones containing the Android mobile operating system, retaliated against Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Wednesday with a complaint to a federal agency aimed at blocking further importation of iPhones, iPods and iPads into the United States.
The complaint filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), a copy of which was obtained by MacNewsWorld, claims those products infringe on five HTC patents and seeks injunctive relief to prevent further imports of the devices into the country.
The development appears to be a reaction to a similar move to the commission, as well as a lawsuit, filed by Apple against HTC in March.
"As the innovator of the original Windows Mobile PocketPC Phone Edition in 2002 and the first Android smartphone in 2008, HTC believes the industry should be driven by healthy competition and innovation that offer consumers the best, most accessible mobile experiences possible," said HTC North America Vice President Jason Mackenzie.
"We are taking this action against Apple to protect our intellectual property, our industry partners, and most importantly our customers that use HTC phones," he added.
Bargaining Chip
In filing the complaint, HTC may be trying to offset the possible chilling effects on its products from Apple's legal actions in March, according to David Levitt, a patent attorney with Hinshaw & Culbertson in Chicago.
"One reason companies file intellectual property claims and issue press releases about them is to try to chill the customers of the alleged infringer," he told MacNewsWorld. "Those customers don't want to get down the road and possibly be defendants or find themselves without product to sell because the injunction was successful."
The HTC move may also give it some leverage in settling its differences with Apple out of court, maintained Stephen J. Lieb, a patent attorney with Frommer Lawrence & Haug in New York City.
"It's a good bargaining chip to come to the table with," he told MacNewsWorld. "Apple now has a risk that HTC might prevail and get an injunction against them."
"Apple now has more of an incentive to sit down at the table and bargain for some kind of settlement with HTC," he added.
Playing Chicken With ITC
These kinds of lawsuit-counter lawsuit actions are common in the world of patent litigation and especially in the high-tech industry, where many of the companies have large portfolios of patents, Levitt observed. "It is commonplace for there to be cross-claims for these kinds of patents," he said.
"Companies go out and get families of patents to protect themselves against competitors," he continued. "Apple filed the first salvo, and now they're getting a response."
"The most common resolution of these claims is some sort of cross-licensing of the various technologies," he explained.
If a resolution can't be reached, however, the stakes will be very high for both players, especially if the ITC finds infringement by either of them. That's because the agency doesn't have the array of options open to it that a court would have.
"The only relief [the ITC] can give is to enjoin importation," Lieb noted. "A win in the ITC probably is more likely to result in an injunction right now than a win in a district court."
Directories, Power Management in Question
In its complaint with the ITC, HTC "seeks, as relief, a permanent exclusion order barring from entry into the United States all infringing portable electronic devices and related software imported by or on behalf of Apple."
It also "seeks, as relief, a cease and desist order prohibiting Apple's sale for importation, importation, sale after importation, distribution, offer for sale, advertising, testing, loading with software, solicitation of sales, repair, technical support, and any other commercial activity related to the Accused Products that infringe one or more Asserted Claims of the Asserted Patents."
The technology in dispute relates to three patents for "hardware and software used to implement telephone directories within mobile telephone systems" and two patents for "power management methods implemented in portable electronic devices," according to the document.
In its complaint filed with the ITC in March, Apple claimed HTC infringed on 10 patents relating to "software architectures, frameworks and implementations, including various aspects of software used to implement operating systems," as well as an "interface for a processor, such as a digital signal processor."
Apple has also filed a patent infringement lawsuit in federal district court in Delaware seeking injunctive relief and monetary damages against HTC.
