Motorola Sues Apple over 18 Patent Infringements
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Motorola is accusing Apple, both in the United States and with the ITC, of infringing on 18 patents related to the Apple iPhone, iPad, iTouch and some Mac computers.
Motorola Mobility is the latest tech company to engage in a legal dispute with Apple. On Oct. 6, the company filed a complaint against the iPhone maker with the ITC (International Trade Commission), accusing Apple of infringing on Motorola patents in technology used in the Apple iPhone, iPad, iTouch and certain Mac computers. Motorola Mobility, a Motorola subsidiary, additionally filed a complaint against Apple in the Northern District of Illinois and the Southern District of Florida.
Motorola has innovated and patented throughout every cycle of the
telecommunications industry evolution, from Motorola's invention of the
cell phone to its development of premier smartphone products. We have
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.
Motorola's three complaints relate to 18 patents for technology
related to Motorola technology for "early state innovations," which
Apple uses in several of its products and services, such as MobileMe
and the App Store, according to Motorola. The patents additionally
relate wireless communication technologies, such as for WiFi and 3G
connectivity, antenna design and smartphone technologies for "wireless
e-mail, proximity sensing, software application management,
location-based services and multidevice synchronization."
In its District Court actions, Motorola Mobility has requested that
Apple be made to stop using Motorola's patented technology and
compensate Motorola for alleged past infringements. In its complaint to
the ITC, it asked that all imports of Apple products using technology
relevant to the patents be halted, and that Apple be prohibited from
selling already imported products.
"Motorola will continue to take all necessary steps to protect its
R&D and intellectual property, which are critical to the company's
business," said Dailey.
For nearly a year, Apple has been trading legal documents with Nokia
in a back-and-forth that saw its most recent installment Sept. 30, when
Apple filed a suit against Nokia in Britain, regarding patents it already complained to the ITC about.
Apple and Taiwan-based smartphone-maker HTC have also sued each other,
also over patent infringement claims. And on Oct. 1, Mirror Worlds,
which began a patent-infringement suit against Apple in 2008, won a verdict against Apple that could potentially cost Apple $625.5 million. 
