Apple Claims Invention of Multi-Touch, Phone CPU Undervolting, Sues HTC to Stop Sales

From DailyTech: One trend we mentioned in our coverage of Windows Mobile 7 was how its look was rather unusual in that it didn't imitate the chiclet icon-on-a-grid look that was first introduced by Apple's iPhone and since embraced by scores of different phones, including many Android phones.

It turns out Apple took notice of this and other similarities as well, and decided that the other companies were ripping off its flagship product. The Cupertino electronics giant today filed suit against handset maker HTC with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and in U.S. District Court in Delaware.

However, the suit covers much more ground than merely multi-touch and layout. In total Apple is suing it for violation of 20 patents. Among the patents that Apple was granted that it says HTC is "stealing" are a patent on an "Object-Oriented Graphic System", a patent of cell phone processor undervolting ("Conserving Power By Reducing Voltage Supplied To An Instruction-Processing Portion Of A Processor"), and touch-screen unlocking ("Unlocking A Device By Performing Gestures On An Unlock Image").

Steven P. Jobs, Chief Executive Officer at Apple was quite outspoken about the suit in an Apple press release put out this morning. He comments, "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."

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