#HTC Sues #Apple Over #Patents, Wants Injunction And Lots Of Damages

HTC has filed a suit in the U.S. District Court in Delaware claiming that Apple has infringed on three of their patents by producing what they refer to in legalese as “Accused Apple Products.” The list of said products is extensive, to say the least: it lists among other things “personal computers, mobile communications devices, wireless printers, streaming wireless capable television, wireless network equipment [and] portable digital music and video players.” In short, nearly everything that Apple makes allegedly infringes on the patents that HTC owns.

How the US patent mess affects European Tech and Startups

It’s a situation that has added weight to the argument that software patents shouldn’t exist. VC Fred Wilson, for example, wrote in June this year:

I believe that software patents should not exist. They a tax on innovation. And software is closer to media than it is to hardware. Patenting software is like patenting music.

The mess around the Lodsys patents should be a wake up call to everyone involved in the patent business (government bureaucrats, legislators, lawyers, investors, entrepreneurs, etc) that the system is totally broken and we can’t continue to go on like this.

Well-known developer Mike Lee (who spoke at this year’s The Next Web conference – dressed as a pirate no less) has announced a legal team and fund to help developers fight back against “patent trolls” like Lodsys. He takes a balanced view on software patents and tells me, “One can make purely theoretical arguments either way. We have to look at reality, how software patents are actually used. The reality is, the same patent system that has failed to keep Apple from being ripped off wholesale is being used to harass its developers. You cannot look at that and honestly say this is a system that works.”

Police Try To Bring Wiretapping Charges Against Woman Who Filmed Them Beating A Man

You would think that Sedergren, who was suspended for 45 days for his actions in the video, would know better and just get on with his life. Instead, he's 'filed an application for a criminal complaint' against Greene, saying she violated wiretapping laws in filming him without his permission. Everyone involved knows the law is not intended for situations like this, where an officer of the law is out in public. If this officer's response to being filmed involved in questionable activities is to push for criminal charges against the person who caught him doing it, it seems like he does not deserve to be an officer of the law at all any more. What a massive abuse of the law.