Google to HTC: take these patents, keep fighting Apple

Apple is now being sued by HTC with patents that were owned by Google until a few days ago, according to Bloomberg. HTC already had cases going against Apple (Apple, likewise, has gone after HTC on a few fronts), but the new patents stand to bolster its lawsuits, and may even include property acquired by Google when it bought Motorola Mobility.

Google transferred nine patents to HTC on September 1, four of which were originally sourced from Motorola and are being used against Apple in a federal court in Delaware. The remaining five, three from Openwave Systems and two from Palm, will help HTC amend a complaint with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) filed in Washington and possibly reverse the preliminary ruling that HTC has infringed on Apple.

The Next Web notes that one of these patents in the ITC complaint concerns a realtime API that is widely used in the Android ecosystem, and Apple claims to own it. If HTC lost that ground to Apple, the effects could ripple through the entire Android platform, hence Google's concern and urgent patent "gifts" to bolster HTC's case. Now, we're left wondering if Google will play patent fairy to Apple's other aggressors and targets as well. Samsung, anyone?

From arstechnica.com