Nokia asks court to bar U.S. imports of Apple's Macs, iPhones, iPods

In a further acceleration of an already bitter dispute, Nokia asked a federal court to bar the importation of Apple hardware. Nokia claims to stop importation Apple’s iPhone, iPod and Mac products. The lawsuit- the second Nokia has filed against Apple in the patent war that broke out last October- coincides with a complaint the company filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission last week.

In the new complaint Nokia claimed that Apple is violating in its products, and looks for a restriction barring Apple from further infringement, as well as damages from Apple. Since the trade commission does not make decisions about monetary compensation, Nokia had to file the federal lawsuit in addition to its objection with the ITC.

The lawsuit claimed that almost every major piece of hardware Apple sells violates one or more of the seven patents. The complete list includes the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS smart phones; the iPod Touch, iPod Nano and iPod Classic music players; the iMac Mac Mini and Mac Pro desktops; and the MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air notebooks.

Nokia thrust off its clash with Apple in October with a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Delaware charging Apple's iPhone violates on ten Nokia patents. In December Apple charged against Nokia that its products violate on 13 of its own patents. In its countersuit, Apple laid out in fiery rhetoric its position on the matter. "Other companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours," Bruce Sewell, Apple's general counsel, alleged in a statement at the time.

"Nokia has been the leading developer of many key technologies in small electronic devices" said Paul Melin, head of Nokia's patent-licensing efforts, in declaration the company's complaint with the ITC. "This action is about protecting the results of such pioneering development."

Nokia asked for a adjudicators trial in its second claim, and wants Apple to pay compensation, with interest, if the company is found responsible of patent abuse.