Palm Ready to Defend Itself From Possible Apple Multi-Touch Lawsuit

Earlier in the week, during their earnings conference call, Apple made some slightly veiled threats regarding their intellectual property with regards to the iPhone, and specifically around their multi-touch technology. Palm, of course, demo'ed multi-touch on the Palm Pre when they unveiled it at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

Tim Cook, COO of Apple, said:

I don't want to talk about any specific company. I'm just making a general statement that we think competition is good. It makes us all better. And we are ready to suit up and go against anyone. However, we will not stand for having our IP ripped off, and we'll use whatever weapons that we have at our disposal. I don't know that I can be clearer than that.

On Friday, in a statement to Digital Daily, Palm spokesperson Lynn Fox said:

"Palm has a long history of innovation that is reflected in our products and robust patent portfolio, and we have long been recognized for our fundamental patents in the mobile space. If faced with legal action, we are confident that we have the tools necessary to defend ourselves."

It must really steam Apple to hear that coming from Fox, once head of Mac PR at Apple. The most public former Apple employee at Palm is, of course, Jon Rubenstein, who once led Apple’s iPod division until becoming Palm’s chairman. There is also Mike Bell, now senior VP of product development at Palm.

Apple is known for being very defensive of their IP, but Palm isn't going to back down. The Palm Pre is their big hope for salvation. It's possible, in order to hold off the legal challenges that seem inevitable, they might need another infusion of Bono's cash.