Not surprisingly, HTC Corp. says it disagrees with Apple's legal actin=ons against it and has outlined those disagreements and reiterated its commitment "to creating a portfolio of innovative smartphones that gives consumers a variety of choices."

Earlier this month, Apple filed a lawsuit against HTC for infringing on 20 Apple patents related to the iPhone's user interface, underlying architecture and hardware. The lawsuit was filed concurrently with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and in U.S. District Court in Delaware.

"We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said . "We've decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."

But now "HTC disagrees with Apple's actions and will fully defend itself. HTC strongly advocates intellectual property protection and will continue to respect other innovators and their technologies as we have always done, but we will continue to embrace competition through our own innovation as a healthy way for consumers to get the best mobile experience possible," HTC CEO Peter Chou said today in a press release. "From day one, HTC has focused on creating cutting-edge innovations that deliver unique value for people looking for a smartphone. In 1999 we started designing the XDA(i) and T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition(ii), our first touch-screen smartphones, and they both shipped in 2002 with more than 50 additional HTC smartphone models shipping since then."

He says some of HTC's technology firsts include: the first Windows PDA (1998); the first Windows Phone (June 2002); the first 3G CDMA EVDO smartphone (October 2005); the first gesture-based smartphone (June 2007); the first Google Android smartphone (October 2008); and the first 4G WIMAX smartphone (November 2008).