Eric Schmidt said that Google's competitors are not engaged in innovation, and lawsuits

Eric Schmidt has publicly commented on recent lawsuits against Android and manufacturers using this platform. He said that competitors - first of all Apple - are afraid of competition and are trying to remove the fastest growing rivals.

Although lawsuits have not yet been addressed to Google itself, manufacturers such as HTC and Samsung are now accused of violating Apple’s patents on a number of smartphones and tablets.

Speaking at the Google Mobile Revolution conference in Tokyo, the chairman of the company’s board of directors said:
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The big news last year was the rapid growth of devices on Google Android, and this means that our competitors have to respond.

But they do not respond with innovations, they respond with lawsuits.

We have done nothing wrong, and these suits are simply inspired by our success.

Schmidt also stressed that Google will support HTC in its confrontation with Apple. He noted that he was confident of victory, although he declined to comment further on this issue.

Last week, the US International Trade Commission found HTC guilty of violating two Apple patents in its Google Android devices. If the final decision of the commission in December will be against HTC, then other manufacturers, including Google itself, may have to pay royalties in favor of Apple.

But recently it became known that many manufacturers are already paying licensing fees in favor of Microsoft from 10 to 15 dollars for an Android device. Given all this, the profits of manufacturers from Android can significantly decrease, and, accordingly, their interest in the platform.

[via The Next Web , The H ]