Motorola Versus Apple

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The smart phone battles have gone beyond healthy competition to all out war, as Motorola has engaged Apple in a patent infringement lawsuit. Three separate complaints claim a total of 18 of Motorola’s patents have been violated. Motorola alleges Apple’s actions have caused irreparable damages.

Motorola is already involved in a patent infringement lawsuit with Microsoft, where Microsoft is the infringement victim. Microsoft alleges 9 patent infringements by Motorola’s Android smart phone. So, Motorola responded to Microsoft’s accusations by slinging a few of their own at Apple. They claim its iOS products †including iPhone, iPad and iPod touch †are to blame. Things like the App Store, Mobile Me, wireless email, application management and antenna design are just a few of the things sited in the statement.

A statement on nexus404.com released by Motorola read:

“Overall, Motorola Mobility’s three complaints include 18 patents, which relate to early-stage innovations developed by Motorola ...
... in key technology areas found on many of Apple’s core products and associated services, including MobileMe and the App Store. The Motorola patents include wireless communication technologies, such as WCDMA (3G), GPRS, 802.11 and antenna design, and key smart phone technologies including wireless email, proximity sensing, software application management, location-based services and multi-device synchronization.”

Motorola even went so far as to file a complaint against Apple with the International Trade Commission. The complaint requests the blockage of all products infringing on Motorola’s patents. The complaint is currently pending investigation.

According to pcmag.com, Kirk Dailey, corporate vice president of intellectual property at Motorola Mobility, said “[Motorola has] extensively licensed our industry-leading intellectual property portfolio, consisting of tens of thousands of patents in the U.S. and worldwide. After Apple’s late entry into the telecommunications market, we engaged in lengthy negotiations, but Apple has refused to take a license. We had no choice but to file these complaints to halt Apple’s continued infringement.”

Representatives from Apple have yet to respond to Motorola’s accusations.

Lawsuits are becoming more common among wireless industry providers. In fact, Nokia has a similar patent infringement lawsuit against Apple, while Apple is suing HTC for the same thing.