Patent wars continue as HTC, Apple, British Telecom and Google caught up in infringement lawsuits

The patent battles in the telecommunications industry have continued, with Apple winning a small victory against phone manufacturing group HTC, and British Telecom announcing a lawsuit against Apple over numerous patent infringements.

The new lawsuits come during an aggressive year of lawsuits for the industry, with the number of patent disputes exploding as manufacturers accuse each other of ripping off designs and various features.

Apple has won a small battle against HTC. In July, it accused the company of infringing 10 patents, and at that time a judge ruled that only two were actually infringing on intellectual property.

In the interim, regulators have had a look at the subject, but the International Trade Commission still ruled HTC is infringing two patents. Unfortunately, these relate to some features that are integrated deep into the Android software and as a result, an exclusion order has been handed down.

“The Commission has determined that exclusion of articles subject to this order shall commence on April 19, 2012,” the ITC said, meaning on that date the infringing products cannot be brought into the United States.

But HTC has told Boy Genius Report that it has a solution.

“We are gratified that the commission affirmed the judge’s determination on the ‘721 and ‘983 patents, and reversed its decision on the ‘263 patent and partially on the ‘647 patent,” HTC said in a statement.

“We are very pleased with the determination and we respect it. However, the ‘647 patent is a small UI experience and HTC will completely remove it from all of our phones soon.”

Meanwhile, British Telecom has announced a lawsuit against Google relating to the Android software, saying it infringes on a number of patents.

Filed in the United States, the company claims six patents from the 1990s in Google Maps, Google Music and Android products are being infringed.

“BT can confirm that it has commenced legal proceedings against Google by filing a claim with the US district court of Delaware for patent infringement,” it told The Guardian.

“The patents in question relate to technologies that underpin location-based services, navigation and guidance information, and personalised access to services and content. BT’s constant investment in innovation has seen it develop a large portfolio of patents, which are valuable corporate assets.”

Google responded by saying it will vigorously defend the company against the new claims.

Patent expert Florian Muller wrote in his blog that with so many patent holders asserting their rights, the lawsuit could prompt a shift in Google’s strategy.

“Android already had more than enough intellectual problems anyway. Now Google faces one more large organisation that believes its rights are infringed. BT probably wants to continue to be able to do business with all mobile device makers and therefore decided to sue Google itself.”