HTC sues Apple for patent infringement in ongoing sales war

The lawsuit represents a bid to stop US imports of iPhones, iPads, iPods and Mac computers, the latest move in an ongoing legal patent battle between the two smartphone heavyweights..

In July, HTC was found to infringe two iPhone patents in a case brought by Apple at the US International Trade Commission (ITC).

However HTC, which is one of the world's fastest-growing smartphone makers and has eclipsed Apple’s market supremacy, has vowed to appeal the ruling, which threatens its business model of designing products around the Android operating system.

HTC General Counsel Grace Lei said in a statement: "We are taking this action against Apple to protect our intellectual property, our industry partners, and most importantly our customers that use HTC products."

Apple has not responded to requests for comment from the BBC.

The battle for sales of smartphones also took a new twist on Monday when Google agreed to pay $12.5 billion to buy Motorola's mobile unit.

Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility (MMI) may offer a greater degree of protection to Android handset makers.

Google wants to move ahead with development of its Android system for mobile telephones, making it more competitive with rivals like Microsoft.

"MMI's patent portfolio is likely to help Google protect manufacturers using the Android ecosystem against litigation from Apple and Microsoft," Bernstein Research said in a note to clients.

Motorola, Nokia, HTC, Apple, Google and Samsung are all involved in one or more patent lawsuits.