It’s time for the Android robot to take a chomp out of the big fat Apple. Motorola Mobility, recently courted and acquired by Google (the deal is still awaiting regulatory approval) has now taken Apple to court for what it claims is Apple’s infringement of at least 6 of its patents. Motorola has taken Apple to court seeking to have Apple’s iPhone banned from the US for these violations.
What is interesting is the proxy war that has been shaping up between Apple and Google as Apple tries to beat off the relentless Android march that has gobbled up a huge chunk of what could have been potential Apple market. In fact, Android devices currently outsell iOS devices and this has got to have Apple going green in the guts.
This new lawsuit comes after Apple lodged cases against Samsung and HTC in a bid to have their devices banned from US soil as well as a slew of other legal battles being fought across the globe in which Apple is trying to say one thing, everyone seems to be copying Apple products and they will have none of it.
This is not going very well as none of the cases have achieved anything significant for Apple with the last case falling to pieces. What’s more, the new suite has Google’s blessings because as part of the sale agreement, Motorola cannot lodge any cases without Google’s express approval.
This role reversal will however put the onus firmly on Apple as they find themselves on the receiving end of a patent class action suite. According to the case filled in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida, Motorola claim, amongst other things, patent infringements on a phone with a “concealed antenna,” and another about keeping data on “multiple pagers” synchronized. There’s no telling where all this suing and counter-suing will end as mobile phones become more and more sophisticated and patents increase by the hundreds every year.
