Apple files complaint against Motorola in the US to prevent iPhone 4S litigation
Apple has asked a federal court in California for an order enjoining
Motorola Mobility from suing the company in other courts for patent
infringement in connection with its use of chips from Qualcomm in its
products.
The maker of the iPhone and iPad is concerned that Motorola will
bring the iPhone 4S into a patent infringement lawsuit it has filed
against Apple in the U.S., as it has tried to do in Germany.
Apple said in the lawsuit
filed Friday before the United States District Court, Southern District
of California that Motorola's lawsuit in Germany, alleging infringement
of its European Patent No. 1010336
('336 patent) in the iPhone 4S, is in direct breach of a patent
licensing agreement between Qualcomm and Motorola, of which Apple is a
third-party beneficiary.
Motorola's rights under the '336 and its equivalent U.S. Patent No. 6,359,898 ('898 patent) are exhausted under the same contract, Apple said in the lawsuit.
A Qualcomm subsidiary sells the MDM6610 baseband processors to
Apple's contract manufacturers for their inclusion in its
CDMA2000-compliant iPhone 4S, Apple said.
Motorola has sued Apple in a German court alleging that it infringes
the '336 patent, claiming that it is not possible to practice the GPRS
(General Packet Radio Service) standard of the European
Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), without infringing the
'336 patent. Motorola has pursued an aggressive international campaign
of litigation that flies in the face of its promise to license its
cellular standards-essential patents on FRAND (fair, reasonable, and
non-discriminatory) terms, Apple said.
A lawsuit relating to alleged infringement of the equivalent '898
patent is also pending before the United States District Court for the
Northern District of Illinois.
Countries like Germany may opt to stay any infringement claims and
enforcement requests against the iPhone 4S as long as the court in
California evaluates the questions Apple has raised, Florian Mueller, a
patent analyst said in a blog post.
Apple has asked the court among other things for a declaratory
judgment that Apple is allowed to use Qualcomm components under a
covenant not to sue, and that Motorola's patent rights in the Qualcomm
MDM6610 chip and other Qualcomm components licensed under Motorola
patents are exhausted.
It is also seeking permanent injunctive relief restraining Motorola
from prosecuting patent infringement proceedings against Apple based on
Apple's use of the Qualcomm MDM6610 chip and other Qualcomm components
licensed under Motorola patents in any forum other than the court in
California.
Motorola and Qualcomm could not be immediately reached for comment
News Group : IT
Date: 2012/2/13
news_source : ITNews.com
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