HTC to fight against Apple's lawsuit

Taiwanese cellphone maker HTC Corp on Thursday said it will strongly defend itself against the patent infringement lawsuits brought by software giant Apple.

HTC, which manufactures various mobile phones including Google's Nexus One, disagreed with Apple's legal actions while reiterating its commitment to create a diverse portfolio of innovative smart phones.

"HTC disagrees with Apple's actions and will fully defend itself. We strongly advocate intellectual property protection and will continue to respect other innovators and their technologies as we have always done," HTC Corporation chief executive officer Peter Chou said.

"But we will continue to embrace competition through our own innovation as a healthy way for consumers to get the best mobile experience possible," Chou added.

In the beginning of March, Apple had filed a suit against HTC Corp in US International Trade Commission and District Court in Delaware, seeking to prohibit HTC from selling, marketing or distributing infringing products in the US.

The complaint named several of HTC's products which infringed patents including Nexus One and Hero, Dream and myTouch -- which run on Google's Android mobile software.

In 1999, HTC had started designing the XDA(i) and T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition(ii), its first touch-screen smart phones, which were both shipped in 2002 with more than 50 additional smartphone models shipping since then.