Ina Fried

Recent Posts by Ina Fried

HTC: We Paid for Patents We Got From Google

HTC told AllThingsD on Wednesday that it did pay for the patents that it recently acquired from Google and is using in its latest patent actions against Apple.

However, in answer to the million dollar (or $1, or $10,000) question, HTC won’t say how much it paid for the patents.

The Taiwanese cellphone maker acquired the patents over the past two weeks and used them on Wednesday to amend existing actions in Delaware Federal Court and before the U.S. International Trade Commission as well as to file a new patent claim in Delaware.

A Google spokesman confirmed the company transferred the patents to HTC, but declined to comment further, referring all questions to HTC.

Apple, for its part, reiterated an earlier statement that accuses HTC of being the one infringing.

“We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours,” an Apple representative said, echoing Apple’s comment when it first sued HTC back in March of last year. HTC has since filed patent suits of its own, while Apple has also added to its list of claims.

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There was a worry before I started this that I was going to burn every bridge I had. But I realize now that there are some bridges that are worth burning.

— Valleywag editor Sam Biddle