Apple files fresh patent complaint against HTC

Apple Inc has filed a fresh complaint against Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp with a U.S. trade panel over unspecified portable electronic devices and software, according to the panel’s web site.

Apple already filed a separate action last year against HTC before the U.S. International Trade Commission, where HTC then leveled its own patent infringement claims against Apple.

The latest complaint by Apple was filed on July 8, according to a brief description on the ITC’s web site on Monday. A copy of the complaint was not available.

Apple has launched patent lawsuits over its iPhones and iPads against different handset manufacturers, including HTC and Samsung.

Grace Lei, HTC’s general counsel, said the company continues to deny all of Apple‘s past and present claims.

“HTC is dismayed that Apple has resorted to competition in the courts rather than the market place,” Lei said in a statement.

Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet referred on Monday to an earlier company statement about HTC, which said competitors should create their own technology and not steal Apple‘s.

The ITC, a U.S. trade panel that investigates patent infringement involving imported goods, has become an increasingly popular venue for patent lawsuits because it can bar the importation of products that infringe patents.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -  (Reporting by Dan Levine; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)