Apple, Google, HTC, LG, Microsoft and Motorola face email litigation

WIRELESS EMAIL PATENTS are behind a raft of lawsuits filed against Apple, Google, HTC, LG Electronics, Microsoft and Motorola.

Virginia based technology company NTP is suing the handset makers over eight patents related to email delivery over wireless networks. The company announced the lawsuits, filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, on Friday.

"Use of NTP's intellectual property without a license is just plain unfair to NTP and its licensees. Unfortunately, litigation is our only means of ensuring...NTP shareholders are recognized and are fairly and reasonably compensated for their innovative work and investment," said NTP co-founder Donald Stout.

The company said that it successfully sued Research in Motion (RIM) for patent infringement previously, and that in December 2009 the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Board of Patent Appeals ruled that 67 of NTP's patent claims in four patents were valid, including three claims that RIM was found to have infringed.

The USPTO judgement followed a legal challenge to NTP's claims in those 67 patents. Infringement of a single claim is all that is needed for a patent to be deemed violated. µ