Elan Seeks to Block Apple Ipad Sales Over Patent Tweet

Elan Microelectronics Corp., a Taiwanese maker of chips and touch-screens, asked a U.S. trade agency to ban the import and sale of some Apple Inc. products, including the forthcoming iPad, because of alleged patent infringement.

Elan’s complaint filed yesterday with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington claims Apple “knowingly and deliberately” used Elan’s technology, while continuing to introduce infringing products, the company claims in the complaint. The petition also seeks to ban imports of the iPhone and iPod Touch products, Elan said in the complaint.

“Our goal is to protect our technology and to stop sales of those products in the U.S.,” Dennis Liu, spokesman for Hsinchu, Taiwan-based Elan, said by phone today.

Apple’s MacBook and Magic Mouse also use technology which infringes an Elan patent for detecting the simultaneous presence of two or more fingers, according to the filing. Apple has started taking early orders for the iPad computer tablet, which had been unveiled in January.

Unfair Practices

The ITC is a government agency set up to protect U.S. markets from unfair trade practices. If it agrees to investigate Elan’s complaint, it could finish its work in about 15 months.

The filing comes after Apple on March 2 said it lodged a complaint with the ITC against Taiwan’s HTC Corp. alleging its patents were breached.

Jill Tan, a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for Apple, declined to comment on the Elan suit.

Elan also sued Apple in April 2009 in federal court in California claiming infringement of the same patent. That patent was affirmed after a California district court found Synaptics Inc. infringed that same technology in a 2008 ruling, Elan said. Elan had also claimed another patent was infringed in that lawsuit.

Apple seeks to bar imports of HTC phones into the U.S., claiming the Taoyuan, Taiwan-based company infringed 20 of its patents related to the implementation of operating systems and technology that allows users to operate the handset by touching the screen with their fingers.

The Elan and HTC cases are not related, Liu said.

The ITC claim is In the Matter of Certain Electronic Devices with Multi-Touch Enabled Touchpads and Touchscreens, No. 2719, U.S. International Trade Commission (Washington).

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