Patents dispute between Google and Apple gets ugly

HTC has filed another patent suit against Apple.

The catch: this time, HTC is using 9 patents that Google handed over on September 1st.

According to Bloomberg, four of the patents were originally owned by Motorola, three by Palm, and two by Openwave. It's not known when or how Google got the patents.

Google has intervened in other lawsuits over Android, but this is a step up in its involvement.

This is exactly what Google said it would do when it bought Motorola, so it's nice to see the company living up to its promises after apparently playing favorites with some Android partners.

The HTC-Apple dispute dates back to last March, when Apple sued HTC over patent infringement in Android phones. HTC fought back, and earlier this summer said it wanted a settlement.

That's usually how these cases end up -- with a settlement. Most of the filings are just about negotiating a price. But the longer they stay in court, the more juicy internal documents end up getting exposed to the light.