Apple and Taiwanese cell phone manufacturer HTC (News - Alert) Corp. have been battling it out for almost two full months now over whether or not Apple's March 2 filed lawsuit claiming HTC violated 20 patents related to the iPhone.

At the time, Apple's (News - Alert) CEO Steve Jobs said in a release that the company can't simply sit by and watch competitors steal its patented inventions. "We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours," Jobs said previously.

While Jobs talks quite a big game about this current situation, it seems an even bigger name is stepping up to defend HTC. And that name is…Microsoft (News - Alert).

In a release, Microsoft Corp. appears to be taking sides with HTC Corp. in its legal tussle with Apple Inc. over intellectual property, saying that it has reached an agreement that will give HTC the rights to use its technology in phones using Google's Android (News - Alert) software.

Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft will receive royalties from HTC. Financial terms were not disclosed.

"HTC and Microsoft have a long history of technical and commercial collaboration, and today's agreement is an example of how industry leaders can reach commercial arrangements that address intellectual property," said Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel of Intellectual Property and Licensing at Microsoft.

If nothing else, this current patent agreement is enough salt to pour into Apple's open wound.

Apple could not be immediately available for comment.