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Updated Friday, May 14, 2010 0:18 am TWN, By Sinead Carew and Gabriel Madway, NEW YORK / SAN FRANCISCO, Reuters

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HTC sues to block iPhone, iPad, iPod sales

HTC Corp fired back on Wednesday in its legal battle with Apple Inc, asking the U.S. International Trade Commission to ban sales of iPhones, iPads and iPods in the United States.

In a complaint filed with the ITC and obtained by Reuters, HTC accused Apple of infringing five of its patents related to cellphone directory hardware and software and power-management technology in portable devices.

HTC's action was widely expected after Apple filed a patent infringement suit against the company in March.

Apple's move against HTC was seen as a proxy for an attack on Google Inc. Taiwan's HTC makes smartphones based on Google's Android software, which has gained ground on Apple's popular iPhone.

In the complaint dated May 12, HTC said Apple violated patents on technology that helps devices such as the iPhone manage power and handle phone directories, and on technology that enables the just-launched iPad tablet computer to store data when in "sleep" mode, among other applications.

HTC is seeking a ban on importation, marketing and sale of Apple's popular mobile devices in the United States. Apple, whose products are made in countries such as China, declined comment.

For its part, Apple accused HTC of infringing 20 patents. In addition, Apple filed a complaint with the ITC and also sued HTC in the U.S. District Court in Delaware.

"We are taking this action against Apple to protect our intellectual property, our industry partners, and most importantly, our customers that use HTC phones," Jason Mackenzie, HTC's vice-president for North America, said in a statement.

MKM Partners analyst Tero Kuittinen was not surprised by HTC's move against Apple, but said the larger question was about HTC's patent portfolio, which he said did not measure up to those of rival handset makers such as Nokia Oyj.

"I think its widely acknowledged that HTC's IP portfolio is not particularly strong, because they got started on this way later than the other guys," he said.

CCS Insight analyst Ben Wood said HTC's patents stretched back to the days before it was making its own branded handsets.

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