Everything iPad

Apple has decided that they are no longer going to sit back and watch as their competition steals their technology, in use with their own devices. With this decision, comes Apple charging forward and suing one of their biggest competitors: HTC. The manufacturer has been known through the years as being one of the most prolific handset manufacturers out there, specializing in Windows Mobile devices since 2002. Most recently though, HTC has claimed a stake in Google’s Android mobile Operating System, with devices such as the Nexus One pioneering Android’s forward momentum.

Apple has officially filed the suit within the United States International Trade Commission, and in the US District Court in Delaware. And apparently they wanted to make sure everyone knew of their intentions, because they released a press release to go along with it. Apple’s suit explains that 20 patents have been violated, but so far, we’ve got ten to share. As soon as the light shines upon the other 10, we’ll be sure to update the list.

• Object-Oriented Event Notification System with Listener Registration of Both Interests and Methods
• Object-Oriented Graphic System
• Conserving Power by Reducing Voltage Supplied to an Instruction-Processing Portion of a Processor
• GMSK Signal Processors for Improved Communications Capacity and Quality
• Automated Response to and Sensing of User Activity in Portable Devices
• System and Method for Managing Power Conditions Within a Digital Camera Device
• List Scrolling and Document Translation, Scaling, and Rotation on a Touch-Screen Display
• Unlocking a Device by Performing Gestures on an Unlock Image
• Touch-Screen Device, Method, and Graphical User Interface for Determining Commands by Applying Heuristics
• Time-based, Non-Constant Translation of User Interface Objects Between States

Obviously, this isn’t the first time Apple has done this, or been on the receiving end of it, either. Noki and Apple are currently engaged in a similar battle, and Kodak has taken to arms against Apple to to how Apple previews images taken by their digital camera, along with processing them at different resolutions. Truth be told, it’s part of the industry, and it’s not a surprise that Apple is going after HTC at all.

As the story develops, we’ll be sure to keep you updated. We understand that this does not seem to be directly tied to anything related to the iPad, but in truth, it does. A lot of the patents we see relating to the iPhone/iPod Touch are in direct relation to the iPad. Not only do they use the same Operating System, but they are based around the same touch-based User Interface as well. If Apple can pull this one out of their hat, and indeed win in all, or even some of these suits, then the field of mobile technology will change pretty drastically. At least, for the competition. Tell us what you think. Is Apple in the right? Or are they just wasting time and money?