Motorola faces new lawsuit
- 07 October, 2011 09:18
- Comments
Patent licensing company Intellectual Ventures has set its sights on Motorola with a new lawsuit charging the handset maker with infringing six patents.
The patents cover a wide range of technologies related to text messaging, docking stations and pushing software out to devices.
Intellectual Ventures, which owns 35,000 patents, said it approached Motorola in January about licensing patents, including several named in the case, according to the lawsuit. Motorola refused to license the patents, Intellectual Ventures said.
Motorola, which is the subject of several other patent lawsuits, declined to comment on the dispute.
The suit names a number of Motorola products as infringing, including the Atrix, Photon 4G, Milestone, Triumph and Brute i680.
Though Intellectual Ventures said it first approached Motorola in January, records at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office show that all but one of the patents were transferred to the company in July and September.
It's up to patent holders to file documents showing transfer of ownership with the patent office, so the discrepancy of timing probably means only that the company was slow in doing its paperwork, said David Mixon, a patent attorney with Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP.
While patent lawsuits have become commonplace in the mobile industry, this one has a unique twist. Google, which recently announced plans to acquire Motorola, is an investor in Intellectual Ventures, patent expert Florian Mueller noted in a blog post Thursday.
That doesn't make Google fully responsible for the suit against Motorola. Intellectual Ventures operates like a group of companies, and Google did not invest in the arm that filed the lawsuit, Mueller wrote. However, Google's investment lent legitimacy to a company whose lawsuit now targets Android, a Google creation. Mueller concluded that, as an investor, "Google played a key role in turning IV into what it is and it should never give money to... any company setting up patent funds without taking care of the Android ecosystem at large."
Nancy Gohring covers mobile phones and cloud computing for The IDG News Service. Follow Nancy on Twitter at @idgnancy. Nancy's e-mail address is Nancy_Gohring@idg.com
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.
- Bookmark this page
- Share this article
- Got more on this story? Email CIO
- Follow CIO on twitter
- Automating Your Processes to Outperform Your Competition
- Top Reasons to Implement an SOA Governance Strategy: A List for IT Executives
- Security Threat Report 2012
- Case Study - TNT Express successfully reduces their paper usage and costs using a new document solution
- Investment Protection and Elasticity for your Network
-
Apple aims iPads at High Schools
-
Face Time - Interview with John Brennan and Robert DiStefano
-
Google Jumps Into Social Bookmarks Game
-
NBN build gaining momentum daily: Quigley
-
Face Time - Interview with John Brennan and Robert DiStefano
-
Transforming Your Business by Transforming Your Processes
In this white paper, we build on the “Intelligent Guide to Enterprise BPM: V olume One” in which we described the three entry points where you can begin to build true Enterprise BPM. In this white paper we explain the value of Process T ransformation, the entry point to strategy and design. Successful implementation of Process T ransformation will mean you have successfully documented, standardized, harmonized, managed—as well as analyzed and improved—your business processes. T he next two white papers will detail the other two entry points: Process Automation and Process Intelligence. -
Oracle Enterprise Gateway
Oracle Enterprise Gateway is a standards-based, policy-driven, standalone software security solution that provides first line of defense in Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) environments. Learn more. -
Getting real about Virtual Backup and Recovery
Virtualisation continues to grow in popularity with real implications when it comes to backup and disaster recovery. Acronis compiles an annual survey of worldwide confidence in backup and disaster recovery. This year the survey has also thrown up a number of key global findings some of which are discussed further in this whitepaper, where we look at the continued spread of virtualisation, the implications in terms of backup and recovery.
Get exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis. 
Comments
Post new comment