Motorola Mobility has sued Apple over various wireless patent violations by six of its products including the iPhone 4S, reports Retuers. The suit was filed in a Florida court and exercises patents related to antenna technology and more.
The case was filed in a Florida court on Wednesday and Motorola says that it involves six of Apple’s products including the iPhone 4S. Motorola claims that Apple has infringed on patents related to wireless antenna technology, software, data filtering and messaging.
Apple’s arguments that Motorola had done the same to several Apple design patents were denied by the U.S. International Trade Commission just last week.
While no mention was made of Google in the lawsuit, you can be sure that this has everything to do with the Android maker’s desire to protect its stake in the mobile market by gaining patent leverage. If Google were to win a patent case, via its soon-to-be-subsidiary Motorola Mobility, it would help to insulate it against further claims brought by Apple against it or any of the companies that make Android devices.
And, as Jordan Golson of Macrumors points out, Google had to sign off on the lawsuit for it to be filed.
The merger agreement between Google and Motorola Mobility requires the company to get Google’s permission before asserting “any Intellectual Property Right in any new Action”. As a result, this lawsuit is the closest Apple and Google have come to direct litigation.
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There is always the possibility that Google has bolstered Motorola’s complaints against Apple with its own trove of patents. This is something that it has done in Apple’s case against HTC.
In August of last year, Motorola was sued by Apple in Europe over the design of its Xoom tablet, in a case that is still ongoing.
Motorola has also filed suit against Apple in the US, claiming infringement against 18 patents in the District Courts, as well as with the International Trade Commission. Motorola has also recently won a GPRS (cellular radio) patent violation suit against Apple in Germany.
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