Google to help HTC fight Apple

HTC hasn’t been doing too well in its latest patent battle against Apple, with the ITC (International Trade Commission) ruling in favor of the Cupertino-based company in its initial judgment. In case you haven’t been up to date with the case, Apple filed a lawsuit against HTC to block sales of its Android devices that are allegedly infringing on Apple’s patents.

The ITC has initially ruled HTC guilty of violating two of the patents in question but obviously unwilling to let it go without a fight, HTC has isn’t going to just bow out. Because the patents in question affect pretty much every Android handset in existence – not only HTC’s devices, it would be a huge blow to Android manufacturers if Apple wins the case. In turn, this could possibly be a hefty loss for Google, the owners of the Android operating system.

This has caused Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google to announce that it will be helping HTC in this fight against Apple. It hasn’t been mentioned what Google will be doing to help out, but when asked about potentially providing financial support if HTC loses, Schmidt was quoted as saying, “We will make sure they don’t lose, then.” But since overturning an administrative law judge’s ruling is not going to be an easy task, it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. Can you imagine a country where Android phones aren’t allowed to be sold? For consumers’ sake, let’s hope this injunction never comes to pass.

George Wong
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: Android, Apple Inc, Google, HTC, itc, lawsuit, Patent