Wed May 17, 2006 12:54am ET

By Jennifer Tan

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - MP3 music player maker Creative`s (CREA.SI: Quote, Profile, Research) U.S. patent lawsuit against Apple (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) has boosted the loss-making Singapore firm`s shares, but analysts fear it will disrupt management turnaround efforts.

Creative Technology Ltd., the world`s number-two MP3 player maker, whose Nomad and Zen players compete with Apple Computer Inc.`s market-leading iPod, filed patent complaints against Apple in federal court and with a U.S. trade agency on Monday.

The company is seeking an injunction and increased damages for alleged violation of its ``Zen`` patent. It is also seeking an exclusion order and a cease-and-desist order against Apple that would prohibit the U.S. firm from selling, marketing or importing its popular iPod portable music players into the U.S.

On Wednesday morning, Creative shares rose as much as 9.3 percent to S$10.00 on thin volume, buoyed by news of the patent infringement suit, which relates to a system developed to organize and access songs. At midday, the stock was up 7.7 percent at S$9.85.

Apple shares fell more than 4 percent on Tuesday in active trade on Nasdaq, due partly to the patent lawsuit and on concerns its business may be slowing.

``The stock price is just a knee-jerk bounce,`` said CIMB-G.K. Securities analyst Jonathan Ng.

``The lawsuit will be a long process, and even if they win, any damages awarded will be a one-off gain. This does not change Creative`s business fundamentals and the fact that there is nothing much to look forward to on the operations front.``