Samsung goes after HTC deal to undercut Apple

SAN FRANCISCO (REUTERS) - When Apple Inc and HTC Corp last week ended their worldwide legal battles with a 10-year patent licensing agreement, they declined to answer a critical question: whether all of Apple's patents were covered by the deal.

It's an enormously important issue for the broader smartphone patent wars. If all the Apple patents are included -including the "user experience" patents that the company has previously insisted it would not license - it could undermine the iPhone makers efforts to permanently ban the sale of products that copy its technology.

Samsung Electronics Co, which could face such a sales ban following a crushing jury verdict against it in August, asked a United States (US) judge on Friday to force Apple to turn over a copy of the HTC agreement.

In a court filing, Samsung argued it is "almost certain" that the HTC deal covers some of the patents involved in its own litigation with Apple.