Spansion wants to block U.S. sales of iPods, BlackBerry gadgets and other devices because memory chips made by Samsung Electronics used in those products allegedly violate Spansion patents.

Spansion is the world's No. 3 maker of flash memory chips by revenue and it sued South Korea's Samsung claiming that more than "100 million mp3 players, cell phones, digital cameras and other consumer electronic devices" are made with Samsung flash memory chips that violate Spansion patents. It claims Samsung has sold $30 billion worth of products over the past five years that contain patented Spansion technologies.

Robert Melendres, Spansion's General Counsel, said in a statement that Spansion has patents that are fundamental to flash memory. Samsung itself has cited these patents many times in its own patent filings, underscoring industry acceptance of the fundamental nature of Spansion's intellectual property. Samsung has not said anything as Spansion filed complaints with the International Trade Commission and U.S. District Court in Delaware.

The company is asking for damages and for the court to ban sales in the U.S. of products with the affected Samsung chips.