Apple is now accusing Andy Rubin, Google's senior vice president and the man responsible for the Android operating system, of pinching the idea when he worked as a low-level engineer at Apple in the early 1990s, U.S. media are reporting.

Rubin was in a position to see Apple's patent for a new operating system, which he later developed into Android and took to Google, the company is claiming, according to U.S. Internet media Business Insider on Friday (local time).

Apple is believed to have made the allegation in a paper it handed to the International Trade Commission in the United States when it filed a suit against Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC in March 2010.

Until now, it was thought that Rubin started planning the Android OS when he worked at General Magic in the mid-1990s. But Apple is arguing it is no mere coincidence that this took place after he worked for Steve Jobs from 1989 to 1992.