When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone in 2007, he said Apple Inc. had applied for more than 200 patents for the device and was ready to enforce them. Now, Apple is putting those words into action.

Apple filed a patent-infringement complaint against Taiwan’s HTC Corp. yesterday, seeking to prevent U.S. imports of phones that run Google Inc.’s Android operating system. The decision to take the case to the International Trade Commission signals that Apple wants to curb HTC’s market share gains as quickly as possible, said Lyle Vander Schaaf, a patent lawyer with Bryan Cave LLP in Washington.

“It’s like nuclear war,” said Schaaf, who specializes in cases before the ITC in Washington, where Apple filed complaints over 10 patents. “If you really want to have an effective remedy to protect your rights, you go to the ITC. Once you’re there, there’s no going back.”

The ITC can act more quickly than a court, and its power to ban imports is often more important in a rivalry than the cash damages possible in a civil case. Apple also filed a patent suit in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, claiming infringement of 10 additional patents, including one for technology that lets people work the iPhone by touching the screen with two fingers.

HTC declined as much as 3.3 percent in Taipei trading, while the island’s benchmark stock index rose. The shares have fallen 12 percent this year, compared with the 7 percent drop in the Taiex index.

Apple generated $13 billion in sales from the iPhone in the year ended in September, accounting for 30 percent of total revenue. Industrywide smartphone shipments are expected to increase 46 percent this year, according to market research firm Gartner Inc. Overall handset sales will rise 11 percent to 13 percent.

Licensing Deals

“We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it,” Jobs, 55, said yesterday in a statement. “We’ve decided to do something about it.”

Apple, based in Cupertino, California, isn’t commenting beyond the statement yesterday, said Steve Dowling, a company spokesman.

Google says it isn’t a party in either case. “However, we stand behind our Android operating system and the partners who have helped us to develop it,” the Mountain View, California- based company said.

Apple and Nokia Oyj, the world’s biggest handset maker, have each filed ITC complaints seeking to block imports of the other company’s phones. In addition, in a Delaware suit filed by Nokia, Apple has accused Nokia of trying to strong-arm a licensing deal for Apple patents. Apple has said it doesn’t want to license its patents.

“We’re certainly not in the business of licensing good ideas,” Tim Cook, Apple’s chief operating officer, said at a shareholder meeting Feb. 25. “That’s not why we’re here. That’s not what our business is about.”

Key Battleground

The ITC handles a variety of patent cases, from foldable stools made in China to a dispute over the hybrid engine in Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles. It has also become a key venue for high-stakes technology disputes over computer chips and electronics.

Samsung Electronics Co. and Sharp Corp. had each won orders to block imports of liquid-crystal display televisions made by the other company, before they settled their dispute. Nvidia Corp. is challenging a judge’s finding from January that its computer-graphics chips infringe patents owned by designer Rambus Inc.

Multitouch Feature

Yesterday’s ITC case involves how operating systems work on mobile phones, while the Delaware suit includes the multitouch patent. Multitouch lets people work the iPhone by touching the screen with two fingers and making swiping motions, allowing them to quickly enlarge or shrink photos or Web pages. Multitouch is one of the 10 patents asserted against HTC in the civil suit.

One of the other patents in the civil case is for a way of using a specific gesture to unlock a touch screen as an alternative to a password. Others are for inventions related to the movement of icons, managing power and sensors to detect user activity.

“We have not yet had the opportunity to investigate the filings,” Linda Mills, a spokeswoman for Taoyuan, Taiwan-based HTC, said in an e-mail. “Until we have had this opportunity, we are unable to comment on the validity of the claims being made.”

Apple was granted 289 patents in 2009, up from 186 in 2008, according to IFI Patent Intelligence, a unit of Wolters Kluwer NV, Europe’s biggest tax and legal publisher. That’s less than the 648 that Nokia was awarded last year, based on an IFI analysis. Still, quantity doesn’t always matter -- all it takes is one patent to persuade the ITC to issue an exclusion order.

Qualcomm Case

In 2007, the agency ordered a halt to tens of millions of mobile-phone imports because Qualcomm Inc. chips inside them infringed a Broadcom Corp. patent for a battery-saving feature. The ban never went into effect, and was later overturned because phone manufacturers didn’t have the chance to take part in the legal process.

“The commission has already showed they were brave enough to block a multimillion-dollar product from the U.S. market,” Schaaf said. By contrast, judges in district courts often force parties to settle because of the complexity of cases, he said.

Apple fell 14 cents to $208.85 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading yesterday. The stock has more than doubled in the past 12 months.

Market Share

HTC’s global market share rose to 6.9 percent of smartphone sales last year from 6 percent in 2008, according to Gartner. That made its phones the fourth most popular. Apple, in third place, increased its share to 16.1 percent of the market from 10.7 percent. Research In Motion Ltd.’s share was unchanged, while Nokia, the No. 1 smartphone maker, lost ground.

Nokia started the fight with Apple, filing suit in October when the two companies were unable to reach a licensing agreement. Espoo, Finland-based Nokia is trying to maintain market share amid competition from Apple and RIM, maker of the BlackBerry.

“You’ve got the ‘smartest kids on the block’ attitude and some of it is quite well deserved,” said Robert Yoches, a patent lawyer with Finnegan Henderson in Washington who’s been following the cases. “They also feel that this is the way to hold onto market share. Even if they can’t keep someone out, they can keep some competitive features out.”

The Delaware case is Apple Inc. v. HTC Corp., U.S. District Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington). The ITC complaint is In the Matter Of Certain Personal Data and Mobile Communications Devices and Related Software, Complaint No. 2715, U.S. International Trade Commission (Washington).

 source:Bloomberg