Days after filing a patent complaint against Samsung with the International Trade Commission (ITC), Apple submitted a similar filing against HTC that focuses on its HTC Flyer tablet and Droid phones.
The complaint, filed on Friday, references portable electronic devices and related software. According to Bloomberg, the complaint accuses HTC of infringing on "groundbreaking technologies developed by Apple in conjunction with the development of its innovative iPhone, iPad and iPod touch products."
The move comes more than a year after Apple filed suit against HTC alleging 20 instances of patent infringement, all dealing with various elements of the iPhone. "We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it," Steve Jobs said at the time. "We've decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."
HTC later said it disagreed with Apple and intended to "fully defend itself." The company told Bloomberg it was "dismayed" by Apple's ITC filing.
As FOSS Patents points out, this is Apple's second ITC complaint against HTC; the first also included Nokia. In April, ITC staff recommended that the commission side with HTC and Nokia in that case. The ITC's recommendation isn't binding, however. Administrative Law Judge Carl Charneski is scheduled to release his decision on August 5, which is still subject to review by a higher committee.
"I take it that Apple is skeptical of the outcome of that ongoing ITC investigation and, therefore, wants a second try with potentially stronger patents," FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller wrote in a blog post.
The HTC Flyer made its debut in March. It's a 7-inch Android tablet running a 1.5-GHz Qualcomm processor and Android 2.3 Gingerbread. It includes a pen, making it a solid tablet for artists and hand-writers. But as PCMag found, if you're not interested in pen input, Android tablets with Google's latest tablet-specific Honeycomb OS are a better bet.
The latest Droid phone, meanwhile, is the Droid 3, which was released last week. There are also reports that the Droid Bionic will be hitting Best Buy soon. The Apple complaint, however, mentions older Droid phones like the Incredible, EVO 4G, Thunderbolt, and more, Mueller said.
Apple is also battling Samsung over its Galaxy S line. About two months ago, Apple sued Samsung for copying the look and feel of its iPhone and iPad with its Galaxy S line of smartphones and tablets, among other devices. Samsung responded with a countersuit, but in late June, took its fight to the ITC. Apple filed its own ITC complaint last week.
For PCMag mobile analyst Sascha Segan's take on Apple vs. Samsung, see Apple's Sloppy, Fearful Samsung Lawsuit.