Discovery Communications Inc accused Amazon.com Inc of infringing patents covering electronic book delivery and security with its Kindle e-book reader and said the Internet retailer should be forced to pay royalties.

Discovery Patent Holdings LLC filed a complaint Wednesday in Delaware's federal district court, claiming the infringement of two patents. Discovery Patent was assigned the patents on Monday by Discovery Communications, which owns several educational and nonfiction cable television stations, such as Discovery Channel and Animal Planet.

Discovery Communications was issued the patents in 1999 and 2007.

The web retailer's infringing includes the operation of the Amazon.com website and the provision of services related to the Kindle, Kindle 2, Kindle DX and Kindle software, the complaint said.

Discovery Communications, an attorney for Discovery and Amazon did not immediately return calls for comment.

In morning trade, Amazon shares were down 2.4 percent to $120.32 and Discovery shares were down 1.7 percent to $36.00.

The case is Discovery Patent Holdings LLC v Amazon.com Inc U.S. District Court, District of Delaware, No. 10-00600.

(Reporting by Tom Hals, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

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