WASHINGTON (Bloomberg) - Kimberly-Clark Corp., the maker of Huggies diapers and Kleenex tissue, sued Covidien Ltd. over patented technology used to make tubes that go down the trachea to help people breath.

Kimberly-Clark, which makes the Microcuff line of endotracheal tubes, claims the SealGuard tubes made by Covidien's Mallinckrodt unit infringes a patent for a device that has a better seal as it goes through the trachea. That limits fluid getting into the lungs and reduces the chance of pneumonia, according to the patent. It also minimises pressure on the upper airway tissues, the company said on its website.

Dallas-based Kimberly-Clark wants a federal judge in Green Bay, Wisconsin, to order Covidien to stay off the market with its SealGuard products until the patent dispute is resolved.

"The parties are direct competitors in a new market that Kimberly-Clark helped to develop and defendants enjoy greater name recognition in the industry generally," Kimberly-Clark said in papers that accompanied the complaint, filed yesterday.

Covidien is planning a "full-scale launch of the infringing SealGuard devices" that will cause "lost sales, lost market share and will permanently damage" Kimberly-Clark's position in the market for endotracheal tubes, the company said in the filing.

Covidien, based in Hamilton, Bermuda, is the health-care unit spun off from Tyco International Inc. The complaint filed by Kimberly-Clark names Covidien's Tyco Healthcare Group, Mallickrodt and Nellcor Puritan Bennett units. The company had $9.9 billion in sales for the fiscal year ended in September.

Kimberly-Clark reported $1.22 billion in sales from its health-care unit, which makes examination gloves and medical devices.

Overall, Covidien had $19.4 billion in sales, primarily from personal-care products and tissue.