Apple Targets HTC In Second ITC Patent Case

Apple has filed a new ITC complaint against HTC, the second such suit alleging patent infringement. The exact devices covered by the complaint are unknown at present, though Apple's complaint – "Portable Electronic Devices and Related Software" – looks broad enough to cover not only HTC's smartphones but tablets and perhaps HTC Sense, the company's custom interface primarily found on Android handsets as well.

Apple's first suit was filed in early March 2010, alleging that the Nexus One, Touch Pro, Touch Diamond, Touch Pro2, Tilt II, Pure, Imagio, Dream / G1, myTouch 3G, Hero, HD2 and Droid Eris all used design and other technologies that the Cupertino company holds patents in. However, while there was a mixture of Windows Mobile devices and Android devices, the only technologies infringed by the WM handsets covered DSP.

This new complaint could well simply be bringing the suit up to date to cover HTC's more recent handsets, such as the flagship Sensation and the Flyer tablet. In the intervening time between March last year and today, HTC's Android line-up has increased hugely. HTC has also bought up companies for their patent portfolio, including graphics company S3 which Apple was recently discovered to have infringed the IP of.

[via FOSS Patents]