Apple’s patent claims against Motorola will be reviewed by the U.S. International Trade Commission, which could issue an order banning Motorola phones from the U.S., reports “Bloomberg” (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-24/apple-patent-case-against-motorola-to-get-trade-agency-review.html).
The ITC will determine if Motorola is infringing Apple patents and whether it should rule to block U.S. imports of Motorola phones made overseas that run on Google’s Android operating system. Notice of the investigation has been posted on the agency’s website, notes “Bloomberg.”
Earlier this month Apple sued Motorola, alleging that the company’s smartphone lineup and the operating software it uses infringe on the iPhone-maker’s intellectual property. The two lawsuits came after Motorola sued Apple in October for patent infringement. Motorola claims that Apple’s iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and certain Mac computers infringe Motorola patents.
Overall, Motorola Mobility’s three complaints include 18 patents, which the company says relates to early-stage innovations developed by Motorola in technology areas found on many of Apple’s core products and associated services, including MobileMe and the Apple App Store. The Motorola patents include wireless communication technologies, such as WCDMA (3G), GPRS, 802.11 and antenna design, and key smartphone technologies including wireless email, proximity sensing, software application management, location-based services and multi-device synchronization.
Motorola Mobility has requested that the ITC commence an investigation into Apple’s use of Motorola’s patents and, among other things, issue an Exclusion Order barring Apple’s importation of “infringing” products, prohibiting further sales of infringing products that have already been imported, and halting the marketing, advertising, demonstration and warehousing of inventory for distribution and use of such imported products in the United States. In the District Court actions, Motorola Mobility has requested that Apple cease using Motorola’s patented technology and provide compensation for Apple’s past infringement.
