Apple broadens attacks on MOT and Samsung
Claims Motorola's patent suit is breaking licensing deal with Qualcomm, adds new Samsung devices to injunction bids
Published: 13 February, 2012
READ MORE: Patents/IPR | Android
Apple certainly isn't listening to those parties which want it to ease off on its legal attacks and concentrate on product innovation. It has upped the ante in its anti-Android actions, extending the scope of its Samsung suits and filing a new complaint against Motorola, bringing the complexities of Qualcomm licensing agreements into the argument.
Qualcomm has been remarkably absent from the patent wars of the past year, but its massive patent holdings, and its complex and secretive licences, help define the mobile IPR landscape. Apple has cited Qualcomm before, arguing that some of the patents it is accused by rivals of violating are actually covered by its licensing pacts with the chip giant. Now it is going a step further, filing suit against Motorola Mobility, seeking to block the latter's US lawsuit, on the grounds that it breaches the terms of Motorola's agreements with Qualcomm.
Motorola Mobility's lawsuits are in the spotlight because its acquisition by Google is likely to be approved this week, bringing the search giant to the heart of the Android legal battles. Also, the handset maker has scored recent victories against Apple in Germany and the US, so there is pressure on the iPhone vendor to step up the pressure. According to Reuters, Apple's latest filing argues that, as a Qualcomm customer, Apple is a third party beneficiary of the licensing deal between Motorola and Qualcomm and that, under that agreement, Motorola cannot assert the patents against Apple in its German case.
It adds that Motorola is citing a standards- essential patent, and the suit would break the commitment to offer such IPR under 'Frand' (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory) terms. This is an argument Apple is increasingly deploying, since rivals like Samsung are heavy holders of standards-essential patents, while Apple's own suits are based on software and design assets.
On Friday, Motorola broke a recent run of wins against Apple and saw one of its lawsuits thrown out by the German court in Mannheim. This court ruled that Motorola Mobility failed to present conclusive evidence that Apple had infringed its patent. Again, this was largely because the patent in question was essential to the UMTS standard, so Apple had necessarily infringed on it in implementing 3G in its handsets. Patents expert Florian Mueller wrote on his Foss Patents blog that Motorola "didn't show any kind of actual implementation (neither hardware nor software), and arguing merely on the basis of the specifications of the standard was insufficient to win."
Meanwhile, Apple has also extended its actions against Samsung, adding new devices to its US complaint. It is now seeking an injunction against the Galaxy S II Skyrocket and Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch, plus the Korean firm's Galaxy 4.0 and 5.0 media players. These violate the patents cited in the earlier allegations, plus further IPR gained by Apple since those were lodged, says the document.
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