Apple vs HTC: proxy fight over Android could last years

Apple came out swinging Tuesday against smartphone maker HTC, filing a federal lawsuit and a complaint with the International Trade Commission, both alleging that HTC's phones violated numerous Apple patents. Some believe the suits are the beginning of a protracted legal battle against Google's Android OS, and analysis of the patents in question suggest Apple's two-pronged approach may be successful, though HTC says it's ready to fight back with its own patents and with Google in its corner.

The best analysis we have seen of the patents themselves comes from Engadget's Nilay Patel who, in a previous life, was an IP attorney. Patel notes that the older patents are more directly related to operating systems and only one could be said to apply to HTC's Windows Mobile devices while the rest are directed at Android. The patents referenced in the federal lawsuit are newer and have yet to be tested in court. Still, Patel believes that at least some of the claims of the various patents seem legitimate on the surface.

Needham & Company analyst Charles Wolf also thinks Apple's chances are good, and believes Apple is doing the right thing by filing the suits. "Apple invested heavily and imaginatively in designing a unique, disruptive smartphone," Wolf wrote. "In our view, the company has every right to protect the iPhone's unique features."

The strategy is also likely to merely start with HTC, with Apple eventually going after other Android-based phone vendors as proxies to combat Android. "It clearly involves some form of litigation strategy of picking off the weaker members of the herd first," Jonathan Zittrain, a professor at Harvard Law School, told The New York Times. "They can always add Google to the suit later on."