HTC denies Apple's allegations in patent infringement suit

"HTC strongly disagrees with Apple's actions. We plan to use all the legal tools we have at our disposal to both defend ourselves and set the record straight," said Jason Mackenzie, vice president at HTC for the U.S. business.

Apple had filed a patent infringement case against the mobile maker earlier this month, claiming that HTC infringes on iPhone’s 20 technology patents.

Though HTC officials refused to divulge company’s course of action to fight Apple in the court, they said that the company will be issuing a formal response regarding the matter in a few weeks time.

HTC’s Chief Executive Officer Peter Chou said in a statement: "HTC strongly advocates intellectual property protection and will continue to respect other innovators and their technologies as we have always done, but we will continue to embrace competition through our own innovation as a healthy way for consumers to get the best mobile experience possible."

Apple-HTC patent infringement suit
Apple slapped patent infringement case against HTC earlier this month in the U.S. District Court in Delaware. In the lawsuit, Apple accused HTC for infringing on 20 iPhone patents.

As per Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs, Apple sued HTC because it refuses to "sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions."

Though Google’s name is nowhere mentioned in the patent infringement case against HTC, many market analysts, who are keeping close check on the ongoing legal battle, believe that suing HTC could be Apple’s way of indirectly attacking Google.

Apple also filed a petition with the U.S. International Trade Commission, seeking to halt the import of 12 devices manufactured and designed by HTC including the Touch Diamond, HTC Touch Pro, the Tilt II, THE Touch Pro 2, the Pure, the myTouch 3G, the Hero, the HD2, THE Imagio and the Dream/T-Mobile G1.

Apple using HTC as a bait to attack Google
Though Google’s name is nowhere mentioned in the patent infringement case against HTC, many market analysts, who are keeping close check on the ongoing legal battle, believe that suing HTC could be Apple’s way of indirectly attacking Google.

Apple might have targeted HTC because it manufactures phones based on software from its archrivals Microsoft and Google.

However, HTC’s vice president Mackenzie declined to make any comment on this aspect and hinted at firing the question at Apple instead.

A day after Apple’s suit, Google said it might not be a party to the lawsuit but “we stand behind our Android operating system and partners who helped us to develop it.”