Smartphone vendor HTC has filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) alleging that Apple has infringed five of its patents and called for a ban on the import and sale of Apple’s iPhones, iPads and iPods made outside the US. “We are taking this action against Apple to protect our intellectual property, our industry partners, and most importantly our customers that use HTC phones,” said Jason Mackenzie, HTC’s vice-president for North America, in a statement. The latest move is the Taiwanese vendor’s attempt to countersue Apple. Earlier this year, Apple launched its own legal assault against HTC claiming the HTC-manufactured Nexus One smartphone (based on Google’s Android platform) has violated patents related to the iPhone. “We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it,” said Apple’s Steve Jobs at the time. “We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.” Apple is also embroiled in a similar spat with Nokia.

A Financial Times report notes that the lawsuits are likely to increase tension between Apple and Google as they fight for market share in the smartphone market. Figures this week from the NPD Group claim that Google’s Android platform overtook Apple to become the second-largest smartphone OS in the US in the first quarter. “This is an inevitable outcome of the iPhone versus Android competitive dynamics,” said Jeffrey Hammond, a mobile analyst at Forrester Research. However, he predicted that the parties would ultimately need to come to find a settlement. “It’s difficult to see how they’re not going to have to cross-license patents for them to all survive,” he added.