A big downside of open source software is how it clashes with patent issues. Installing a Linux operating system is very easy– the slightly more complicated part comes afterwards, when you usually have to install additional components, ranging from graphics card drivers to media codecs. Companies like Canonical (who distribute the Ubuntu Linux operating system) have to be very careful about what they do and don't include with their packages. While they might not be troubled by issues like patents, there is the risk that a partner down the line will be.

In short, owning a patent for a particular idea gives you either the exclusive right to use it, or a way to make money by licensing other companies to use it. Or to swap patents, where two companies agree to let each other use their patented ideas. (Which makes it difficult for a startup entering a big competitive business like the mobile phone industry to get a foothold.)

However, if you're a software company like Apple, it's a different game. So it's interesting to see that after Apple are filing a suit against HTC over mobile phone software patents.

The facts;

• Apple's iPhone led the pack of the current range of touchscreen smartphones.
• The iPhone was the first mobile phone to feature a multitouch touch screen. Along with the Apps Store, it's a major USP of the iPhone– especially "pinch to zoom."
• Although Android phones have had multitouch hardware, it hasn't been properly supported in the software-– so far.
• A recent software update enabled multitouch features for the Nexus One Android phone– manufactured by HTC, but de-branded and sold via http://google.com/phone. These include pinch-to-zoom in the web browser, Google maps and the photo application– just like the iPhone.
• Apple have 20 patents that they are claiming HTC are in breach of. Many of these relate to technical issues unrelated to the pinch-to-zoom aspect– which will probably be raising questions for other handset manufacturers using the Android operating system.

So ultimate

ly, I don't think this is about Apple and Google. At the end of the day, the Android software is open-source; anyone can do anything with it if they want– whether you are a hardware manufacturer, a network, or just a user. There's nothing stopping a third party developer from writing software that infringes on Apple's patents and sharing it. But getting that software onto people's phones is something different. Previously, this has been possible– but not easy (or even safe.) So not something that your average consumer would have been likely to do when they got home with their shiny new smartphone. The update for the Nexus One is different.

Despite what some commenters say, I don't think this is about a fear of Google, or an attack to make HTC nervous. I think it's a defensive move to keep multitouch a unique feature of the iPhone for as long as possible.

There's also the iPad around the corner; the last thing Apple wants to see is another tablet device offering the same kind of functionality– with features like a multitouch interface. My gut feeling is that this is what the HTC case is about; multitouch and the iPhone OS.

This makes me wonder whether this was really the point of the Nexus One; the phone is sold through Google (at http://www.google.com/phone)– not through the mobile networks, or directly by the handset manufacturer. The HTC branding doesn't even appear on the handset. For the sake of what the consumer sees, it's a Google phone, bought from Google, running Google's Android. Yet it's HTC that has a lawsuit to worry about. It seemed a strange move to me for Google to risk alienating it's hardware partners, sidelining the mobile networks and selling a product directly. But perhaps it was actually a strategic move to shield their partners from their move to broaden the smartphone market? At the end of the day, Google is all about the web as an open platform– different operating systems and hardware aren't really important, so long as everyone has a decent internet connection and a web browser. Android was always about making sure that, on the mobile platform, there wasn't a single "owner"– whether that was the iPhone Apps replacing the mobile web, or mobile networks putting a huge price barrier between potential users and a mobile internet connection.

Meanwhile, in the pipeline, Microsoft have a refresh of Windows Mobile (renamed Windows Phone) die for the end of the year, which is expected to feature a multitouch interface. Palm's Pre also has a multi-touch screen– as well as a bunch of patents of their own.

The nitty-gritty of this case is likely to be a legal mystery to most– but at this stage in the growth of the smartphone market, the implications of it look set to have a significant impact on the way it develops over the next few years.