Motorola Seeks Injunction On iPhone4S and iCloud, Sues Apple

Apple has created a hostile environment in the mobile world by dragging almost every Android player to the court. We are noticing that Apple has started to lose legal battles in the courts, which is a good sign for the growth of the industry. Apple has used every kind of patents they can, even the rectangular design of a tablet, to exhaust their competitors and monopolize the market. Now, the tables have turned, Motorola, the inventor of cell phones has sued Apple, seeking an injunction against the iPhone4S and the iCloud.

The patents in question are:

• U.S. Patent No. 5,710,987 on a "receiver having concealed external antenna"
• U.S. Patent No. 5,754,119 on a "multiple pager status synchronization system and method"; Motorola is asserting the European equivalent of this patent against Apple in Mannheim, with a decision (that will likely be favorable for Motorola) scheduled for Friday of next week (February 3, 2012)
• U.S. Patent No. 5,958,006 on a "method and apparatus for communicating summarized data"
• U.S. Patent No. 6,101,531 on a "system for communicating user-selected criteria filter prepared at wireless client to communication server for filtering data transferred from host to said wireless client"
• U.S. Patent No. 6,008,737 on an "apparatus for controlling utilization of software added to a portable communication device"
• U.S. Patent No. 6,377,161 on a "method and apparatus in a wireless messaging system for facilitating an exchange of address information"

Motorola has filed a new lawsuit as it was not able to include iCloud and iPhone4S in an ongoing suite as the devices did not exist at the time of original filing and the judge instructed Motorola to file a new lawsuit.

Motorola then signed and agreement to be acquired by Google whose Android was under massive patent attacks and Google needed some patent protection. According to that agreement there was a condition that prohibited Motorola Mobility from 'asserting any Intellectual Property Right in any new Action' without Google's consent. I think the reason of the clause was to prohibit Motorola for suing any Android player. The new lawsuit means that Google has given a green signal to Motorola to claim the patents that Apple is infringing upon.

As I stated above things have started to look bad for Apple and its time they learn some lesson and go back to innovation instead of litigation. It's very important for authorities to approve the Google-Motorola acquisition deal to put Android on the negotioation table or Apple will continue to bulley the Android players and weaken the competition.