Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has called for governments to end the growing number of patent disputes in the technology market by introducing tough new legislation.

Speaking to the Metro, Bezos said that innovation and society itself was threatened by the patent lawsuit culture. He urged national governments to introduce strict new legislation that would limit such disputes.

"Patents are supposed to encourage innovation and we're starting to be in a world where they might start to stifle innovation. Governments may need to look at the patent system and see if those laws need to be modified because I don't think some of these battles are healthy for society," said Bezos.

The term 'patent war' has hit the headlines in recent months due to the increasingly embittered lawsuits such as this year's standoff between tech giants Apple and Samsung. It reached a tipping point earlier this year whena jury in the US foundSamsung had improperly violated patented technology and awarded Apple $1.05 billion (£653 million) in damages.

Meanwhile, in August aSouth Korean court ruledthat Apple and Samsung infringed on each other's patents, and ordered the companies to stop selling some of their products in South Korea and pay damages. Apple was ordered to stop selling the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, its first-generation iPad and the iPad 2.

Amazon is the current market leader in eBook readers with its Kindle device. Its latest innovation - theAmazon Kindle Paperwhite- is out in the UK later this month.

It will sell alongside the company's new tablet theAmazon Kindle Fire HDwhich has been deemed a low-cost rival toApple's iPad Miniwhich is due to beunveiled on 23 October. The company is also expected to enter the smartphone fray, and could therefore soon be facing lawsuits of its own.