Handset producer HTC Corp (宏達電) said yesterday that it would continue with a lawsuit against Apple Inc, despite a US trade panel denying its petition to use some patents acquired from Google Inc.
The US International Trade Commission (USITC) determined a day earlier that it would not review an administrative law judge’s initial determination in a lawsuit between HTC and Apple that HTC cannot use five patents it bought from Google.
“We are disappointed in this decision and will pursue our available options,” HTC said.
“We will continue to aggressively protect our intellectual property against those who infringe upon it and look forward to presenting our case on the remaining patents to the judge at trial later this year,” the Taoyuan-based firm said.
In September last year, HTC amended the existing complaints it filed on Aug. 16 last year with the USITC and the US District Court of Delaware, as well as an additional case in Delaware, for patent infringement by Apple’s iOS devices and Mac computers.
HTC filed the claim with five of the nine patents it bought from Google, which originated from Palm Inc, Motorola Inc and Openwave Systems Inc, and were transferred to Google within the past year.
However, last month, the USITC rejected HTC’s bid to assert the five patents it obtained from Google, after Apple argued that HTC did not have the right to sue by using this “rent-a-patent” model.
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