In this day and age of tech lawsuit mania, it can be hard to remember them all.  However, remember the Apple versus HTC one that is currently in process with the U.S. International Trade Commission?  It took an interesting twist recently, where Apple filed in a brief that essentially claims Android co-founder and current Google exec Andy Rubin may have gotten the idea for the Android framework while still with Apple.

FOSS Patents reported that according to the brief, a key patent for a "real-time signal processing" API that HTC is accused of infringing in its Android devices had been initially developed by a group of Apple engineers, which Rubin had been a part of.

While it doesn't directly mean anything in regard to Apple's claims again HTC, it does provide further fodder for Apple, in that HTC hasn't exactly been forthcoming by omitting any mention of Rubin's time with Apple.  Apple says that Rubin had been a "low-level engineer" at Apple, reporting directly to the inventors of the patent in question at the time of the invention. 

Here's the wording from the legal brief:

Android and Mr. Rubin's relevant background does not start, as HTC would like the Commission to believe, with his work at General Magic or Danger in the mid-1990s.  In reality, as the evidence revealed at the hearing, Mr. Rubin began his career at Apple in the early 1990s and worked as a low-level engineer specifically reporting to the inventors of the '263 [realtime API] patent at the exact time their invention was being conceived and developed. […]  It is thus no wonder that the infringing Android platform used the claimed subsystem approach of the '263 patent that allows for flexibility of design and enables the platform to be "highly customizable and expandable" as HTC touts. […]  While Mr. Rubin's inspiration for the Android framework may not be directly relevant to the pending petitions for review, that HTC felt compelled to distort this history is illustrative of the liberties it takes in attacking the ALJ's [initial determination] and the substantial evidence supporting the ALJ's findings.

Again, Apple is not trying to claim that the entire concept of Android happened at Apple, but should it ever come to it, Apple could have a solid case, should they ever decide to go after Google.

via Mac Rumors

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