“In one of the most surprising developments in the ongoing smartphone patent disputes, Google subsidiary Motorola Mobility has just withdrawn its second ITC complaint against Apple,” Florian Mueller reports for FOSS Patents. “The complaint was filed in mid-AugustY (a week before the Apple v. Samsung billion-dollar jury verdict) over seven non-standard-essential patents. Two weeks ago, the ITC announced its expected decision to formally investigate the complaint.”
“I have checked on the dockets of a couple of federal lawsuits pending between the parties, and there are no signs of withdrawals or an impending settlement there,” Mueller reports.
“This could still be a unilateral goodwill gesture on Google’s part toward Apple if high-level settlement talks are progressing well. But it could also be a tactical decision involving a plan to reassert the same claims in a federal court,” Mueller reports. “For now I think it’s more likely than not that Google identified some reasons for which this complaint was unlikely to succeed at the ITC, and that its overall fight with Apple is continuing as usual. Withdrawals at such a very early stage of an investigation are really unusual — two weeks into an investigation that was scheduled to take at least 16 months.”
Read more in the full article here.
“The case being withdrawn accused Apple of infringing seven Motorola Mobility patents on features including interactive voice commands, location reminders, e-mail notification and phone/video players,” Susan Decker reports for Bloomberg. “Motorola Mobility, which Google bought in May, said in August it hoped the filing of the suit — and the threat against Apple’s iPhone — would push the two sides into settlement talks.”
“Another case is pending at the Washington trade agency, which has the power to block imports of products that infringe U.S. patents,” Decker reports. “The commission on Aug. 24 cleared Apple of infringing three Motorola Mobility patents, and told the judge to consider whether a fourth patent, for a sensor to protect against accidental hangups, was infringed.”
Decker reports, “ITC Judge Thomas Pender, in an order dated yesterday, said he will make a decision by Dec. 21 on that issue.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related article:
U.S. ITC decides to investigate Google’s Motorola Mobility patent complaint against Apple – September 18, 2012
Eventually, Microsoft and Apple came to an agreement to stop suing each other for their own mutual benefit and it worked out well for both parties. Eventually, the same will have to happen between Apple and Google. Google is going to have to agree to come up with an Android home screen that doesn’t look like a direct iPhone clone and Apple is going to have to agree to stop filing lawsuits over look-and-feel patents. When two tech giants like Apple and Google go to war, no one wins but the lawyers.
Nonsense
Aaaaaw.
-he put the comment in such nice words! 🙂
all for nothing.
If you think Apple would be better off today if it spent the last 15 years trading lawsuits with Microsoft, you’re an idiot. Agreeing not to sue each other anymore was beneficial for both Apple and MS. It’s the same deal with Google today. Apple and Google have enough money tor trade lawsuits for the next 40 years, OR they could come to a mutual agreement and move on to other things.
Make no mistake: The only winners in Apple’s “nuclear war” so far are the lawyers. Any “victory” you think Apple or Google/Motorola/Samsung has won can and probably will be overturned, eventually, during the endless appeal process.
Getting Apple involved in an endless and escalating string of look-and-feel lawsuits was a rash, emotional and arrogant decision on Steve’s part, and it’s something Cook will bring to an end. It’s not productive for Apple, and not productive for the industry. It’s a state of affairs that is unsustainable, therefore it will be brought to an end. And you can iCal that, fool.
I don’t know apple won a cool billion of whic maybe 10% or so went to the layers…. That’s a nice chunkc of change…
Ah yes. The “peace for our time” approach. How did that work out in the past for others?
This is survival for Apple. Google does not want to be friends with Apple. They want them to die. Or at least capture ALL viewed pages for their advertising empire. Will be tough if Apple survives now, to do that.
He means “Peace in our time.”
The home screen on android already looks nothing like like the iphone home screen…the android home screen has a big clock widget and a Google search bar…most pictures on this site show android with the app drawer open which users never do…also what other ways are there to show programs? “Apps” are derived from “icons” which have been used for years…its the industry standard…seriously what better/other way is there to show apps?
Maybe after a nap and lunch Motorola felt a little less cranky and invited those nice kids from Apple over to play.