“On Saturday, two days before an Apple v. Motorola Mobility may or may not commence, Apple brought a couple of motions to prevent the wholly-owned Google subsidiary from making certain arguments should the trial take place,” Florian Mueller reports for FOSS Patents. “At the very beginning of one of the motions, Apple formally ‘recognizes that the Court has not yet ruled on whether a trial will be held on its claims.’”

“The most interesting revelation is that Motorola apparently took in its sealed trial brief a new position on what should be the FRAND royalty rate for its celullar standard-essential patents (SEPs),” Mueller reports. “According to Apple, “Motorola’s first new theory is that 2.25% should be applied to the difference in price between an iPod Touch and the unsubsidized iPhone (without a carrier contract)”. The filing says that this would mean a royalty base between $400 and $450. As a result, Google’s Motorola Mobility would charge Apple between $9 and $10.13 per iPhone for its wireless SEPs.”

Mueller reports, “Apple rejects the notion that it “receives $400 to $450 in value from cellular functionality” and claims it’s inconsistent with what one of Motorola’s own experts said in a related case.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: FRAND abuse.

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