HTC: We’ll see off Apple lawsuit

Mobile manufacturer HTC says it is confident it can fight off a recent patent infringement lawsuit from iPhone maker Apple.

Apple filed a lawsuit earlier this month, accusing HTC of infringing on 20 iPhone related technology patents. HTC makes phones based on Google Android and Windows Mobile.

HTC says it will use every means possible to fight off the suit. “We feel confident in our innovation and our ability to defend ourselves in this case,” said Jason Mackenzie, vice president of HTC’s US business.

We feel confident in our innovation and our ability to defend ourselves in this case

Mackenzie declined to go into detail about how HTC will defend itself except to say the company would issue a formal response in the next few weeks.

“HTC strongly disagrees with Apple’s actions. We plan to use all the legal tools we have at our disposal to both defend ourselves and set the record straight,” Mackenzie added.

While Apple’s lawsuit didn’t name Google as a defendant, the case was viewed by many analysts as a proxy for an attack on Google, whose operating system powers many phones made by HTC, including the Nexus One, which Google sells directly.

Mackenzie declined comment on this aspect of the case and suggested directing such questions at Apple.

Apple’s suit seeks to prohibit HTC from selling, marketing or distributing infringing products in the US. The complaint filed with the International Trade Commission said infringing products include Nexus One, which was launched in January, and other HTC phones such as the Hero, Dream and myTouch, which run on Android.