The buzz around the web today is that HTC may have a case against Apple over the term “touch” being used for the new mulit-touch enabled iPod. First, it’s important to point out that HTC did not bring this up, it was a trademark lawyer that was either asked, or volunteered the idea that HTC might have a case.
Beyond the fact that this is ridiculous (in my opinion, anyway) if HTC were bold enough to try and sue a company they just completely ripped off, Apple could fairly easily file a counter suit in regards to the functions and features of the HTC Touch.
For the record, HTC chief Peter Chou has said he believes that the Apple device’s name is a compliment to his company’s own naming scheme, but has refused to officially comment about the possibility of a lawsuit.
It has been added that the fact that the iPod Touch and the HTC Touch have similar functions such as in its media playback, touchscreen, and Wi-Fi functions may be enough to spark a suit by itself. Personally, I think if anyone is going to be filing that suit, it will be Apple. The HTC Touch debuted in July, mimicking many of the iPhone’s features and functionality.
I seriously doubt anything further will develop from this, but if it does, it will certainly be interesting.
3 thoughts on “If HTC sues Apple over Touch name, does Apple get to sue over HTC stealing everything else?”
Lawyer: “hey, you see apple over there? I’ll bet you could kick his @$$”
HTC: “but I don’t want to…”
Lawyer: “aww, come on! you’ll be ok. It’ll get broken up before anything really happens anyway. But now people will know who we are.
HTC: “o-k… if your sure…”
Media playback, wi-fi and a full-screen touchscreen IS NOT enough to spark a lawsuit. Maybe multi-touch. MAYBE.
See:
Palm TX
Nokia 770
Nokia N800
Palm LifeDrive
^ Those devices all have touchscreen, wifi and media playback. Surprise! Apple didn’t patent any of those things!
Yeh, HTC who? Exactly.