Acer: Apple started patent war, we’re ready to battle them

Over the past few months, basically since early last year, we’ve seen resurgence of high-profile litigation among tech giants as the stakes grow higher in the battle for supremacy in mobile. Even though Apple is not suing Acer, their chairman JT Wang saw fit to draw attention to a possible patent infringement claim from Apple, adding the California company “started the patent war“, reports DigiTimes:

As Apple’s patent lawsuits against HTC have created concerns among market watchers, and have even strongly impacted HTC’s stock price, Wang pointed out that the player, which started the patent war, wants either money or market influence and should consider any related losses as costs of doing business.

His comment is in line with Eric Schmidt’s outrageous claim that Apple is suing Android vendors out of jealousy and lack of innovation. Earlier this year, Acer’s CEO and president Gianfranco Lanci stepped down due to his inability to tackle Apple’s iPad while his company pledged to “overhaul operations” in the wake of the iPad challenge. A Strategy Analytics market research claims Android tablets took 30 percent of the market in June based on total shipments into the channel rather than actual sales to consumers.

Acer, like HTC whom Apple is suing, is among high-profile Android backers anxiously awaiting the outcome of Apple’s infringement claims. Apple accused HTC of violating up to twenty patents related to the iPhone’s hardware, software and its user interface and investors already punished the stock. ITC ruled that HTC infringed on two patents held by Apple. If ITC’s commissioners accept the ruling and the two rivals reach a settlement that would have HTC pay royalties to Apple, this will set a precedence Apple could use to extract royalty payments from other vendors which in turn might hurt their margins and increase their costs.