The mobile device market is witnessing furious patent wars, which can consequently result in rising costs for handset makers and higher gadget prices for wireless carriers as well as consumers.

According to Bloomberg data, Apple and HTC have entangled in more patent-related litigation than in all of 2007, and are on the track of beating their own 2008 and 2009 records. a patent infringement suit was lodged against Apple in Madison, Wis., by Nokia on May 7, that stated that Apple's iPhone and iPad violate five Nokia patents. The companies have managed to exchange five suits and countersuits in just five months period.

When Nokia accused Apple of infringing on 10 patents and demanded royalties in October 2009, the war for patents began.

Apple sued Taiwan-based HTC in the month of March alleging that it infringes on 20 Apple patents relating to touch and menu controls. Jason Mackenzie, a Vice-President at HTC said, “We are taking this action against Apple to protect our intellectual property, our industry partners, and most importantly our customers that use HTC phones”.

Microsoft is also demanding patent payments from companies that create phones based on Android software. HTC is going to license its software for the phones, on 27 April, but the terms have not been disclosed so far.