Apple suing HTC for patent infringement

Makers of the iPhone going after competitor which builds the Nexus One and G1

Is Apple a little upset over the rise of Android-based smartphones?  The maker of the ever popular and industry changing iPhone announced this morning it has filed a lawsuit against HTC, makers of the G1 (the first Android phone), and more recently the well received Nexus One, both which operate on Google's Android operating system.

In Apple's statement, Steve Jobs commented, "We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it...we think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."

Apple is accusing HTC of infringing on 20 of its patents which of course are iPhone related.  Digital Daily got a hold of the court documents which reveal the patents, some of which include familiar things like, "Object oriented graphic system," and "List scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touch-screen device."

HTC has yet to officially publish a press release commenting on the matter.  The company did speak with Gizmodo though saying, "We only learned of Apple's actions based on your stories and Apple's press release. We have not been served any papers yet so we are in no position to comment on the claims. We respect and value patent rights but we are committed to defending our own innovations. We have been innovating and patenting our own technology for 13 years."

It's interesting to see Apple making this move on a device maker it obviously sees as a threat.  HTC builds phones with touch screen interfaces running operating systems like Android and Windows Mobile.  

At the same time, is Apple going to go after every touch screen device maker now?  Developers like Palm and Motorola are building phones with similar functionality to the iPhone as well.  Take the Motorola Droid or the Palm Pre as clear examples.  The list goes on. 

Here's the court documents: