The US International Trade Commission (ITC) said on Friday that it would investigate a patent infringement complaint by Taiwan-based mobile phone maker HTC Corp (宏達電) against Apple Inc.
HTC, the target of a patent suit by Apple in March alleging infringement of iPhone patents, filed a complaint with the Washington-based ITC last month seeking a ban on imports of Asian-manufactured iPhones, iPods and iPads into the US.
HTC alleged that Apple products infringed five HTC patents and seeks to have them barred from being imported into the US from their manufacturing facilities in Asia.
The ITC, an independent US agency that has the power to ban imports, said in a statement that it had agreed to open an investigation “of certain portable electronic devices and related software” based on the complaint filed by HTC.
HTC, which stands for High Tech Computer Corp, is Taiwan’s leading smartphone maker. The company makes handsets for a number of leading US companies and is the manufacturer of the Nexus One, unveiled by Apple rival Google in January.
Apple in March accused HTC of infringing on 20 Apple patents related to the “user interface, underlying architecture and hardware” of the iPhone.
Apple, which is based in Cupertino, California, filed the lawsuit in a US District Court in the state of Delaware and with the ITC.
In the suit, Apple, which has sold more than 50 million iPhones worldwide, asked for unspecified damages and an injunction to prevent HTC from making or selling products using the patents in dispute.
Meanwhile, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will open an investigation to determine if Apple Inc’s mobile software business practices are squashing competitors, according to a report published on Friday.
The Wall Street Journal said the FTC will start an investigation, citing people familiar with the situation. The newspaper said that the FTC has been working with the US Department of Justice for weeks to decide which agency will review allegations from companies complaining of being barred from the mobile platform that runs its iPhone and iPad devices.
Apple’s newest version of its mobile operating system, iOS4, will be released later this month, as well as a new iPhone.
Apple rival Google Inc is among the companies that are increasingly agitated with the iPhone maker, as new restrictions that are part of iOS4 may hamper Google’s ability to sell and place ads on devices that run the software.
On Wednesday, Omar Hamoui, the head of Google’s newly acquired mobile ad service, AdMob, attacked the restrictions as a threat to competition.
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