Windows Phone Thoughts: HTC Fires Back, Suing Apple for Patent Infringement

"HTC Corporation today took legal action against Apple Inc., filing a complaint with the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) to halt the importation and sale of the iPhone, iPad and iPod in the United States. "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 Jason Mackenzie, vice president of North America, HTC Corporation. "We are taking this action against Apple to protect our intellectual property, our industry partners, and most importantly our customers that use HTC phones." "

There are no specifics in this press release about exactly which patents HTC is claiming Apple infringed upon, but HTC has been in the mobile phone game for a lot longer than Apple has, so they may very well have some solid ground to stand upon. I'm guessing here that HTC is a proxy for both Google and Microsoft fighting Apple, just as Apple was using HTC as a proxy to attack Google. In the end, only the lawyers will get rich off this one...