Court refuses to dismiss iPCS case against Sprint
*Court denies request for case dismissal
*iPCS wants benefits of Clearwire technology
*Sprint said ruling has positive elements for Sprint
*Sprint shares up 2.1 pct, iPCS shares up 2.4 pct
NEW YORK, May 1 (Reuters) -Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N) affiliate iPCS Inc IPCS.O said on Friday that an Illinois court refused to dismiss an iPCS case against Sprint related to Sprint's Clearwire Corp (CLWR.O) joint venture.
iPCS is seeking an injunction to stop Sprint from benefiting from a high-speed wireless network that Clearwire is building unless it shares the benefits of that technology with its affiliates.
The complaint from iPCS, which has exclusive rights to the Sprint brand in its operating territories, stems from Sprint's creation at the end of last year of a venture with Clearwire, which is building a network based on WiMax technology.
Sprint owns about half of the Clearwire venture and plans to sell high-speed wireless services to its own customers using the WiMax network, which promises to blanket entire cities with fast Internet access for portable computers and other gadgets.
The Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, ruled that iPCS could not claim certain types of monetary relief in the case but that it could still look for the injunction and would not be prevented from making a claim for direct damages.
Sprint spokesman Matthew Sullivan declined to comment directly on iPCS statement but said that there were several positive elements in the ruling.
"The judge's decision to grant our motion to dismiss several iPCS claims including one for speculative monetary damages is a positive development," he said.
iPCS has been battling with the No. 3 U.S. service provider since it bought Nextel Communications in 2005 to form Sprint Nextel. The company is also looking for Sprint to stop operating the Nextel network in the iPCS operating region.
Sprint shares were up 2.1 percent at $4.45 in morning New York Stock Exchange trade. Shares of iPCS were up 2.4 percent at $14.87 on the Nasdaq. (Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
