Motorola must show Apple details of Google’s acquisition plans

The U.S. Circuit Judge overseeing the patent dispute between Apple and Motorola Mobility has ordered the latter to provide the former with details of Google’s $12.5 billion acquisition as well as information about the development of Android, reports “AppleInsider” (http://www.appleinsider.com).

In a filing on March 2, Apple requested to obtain the information stating that “the Android/Motorola acquisition discovery is highly relevant to Apple’s claims and defenses” in its ongoing patent suit against Motorola. Last week Apple won a German appeals court ruling temporarily blocking the enforcement of a patent verdict obtained by Motorola Mobility in December, reports “Bloomberg” (http://macte.ch/HS2Uf).

Motorola Mobility, which forced Apple to remove some iPad and iPhone models from its German online store for a short period, can’t enforce the verdict during an appeal, the article adds. The ruling was issued after Apple revised license-agreement terms it offered Motorola Mobility, the court told “Bloomberg” in an e-mailed statement.

“At the current state of the proceedings, it is to be assumed that Motorola Mobility would violate its duties under antitrust rules if it continues to ask Apple to stop the sales,” the court said.

This is part of an ongoing battle between the two companies. Apple has previously alleged that Motorola infringes 24 of its patents (21 of them with Android-based phones, the remaining three with set-top boxes and DVRs), while Motorola previously asserted 18 patents against a variety of Apple products (mostly but not exclusively iPhone, iPad and iPod). Litigation between the two companies has taken place in several different federal courts.

In November 2010 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 2010 for patent infringement. Motorola claims that Apple’s iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and certain Mac computers infringe Motorola patents.