Apple files more patent suits against Samsung, Motorola

pple has filed another US patent lawsuit against Samsung Electronics and is seeking a preliminary injunction asking a federal judge to halt sales of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone while the case makes its way through the court.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday in US District Court for the Northern District of California and involves four Apple patents for technology that allows users to touch a phone number on a Web page to dial the number, word placement, Siri voice recognition and unified search, and the ability to unlock a smartphone by sliding an image from one location to another.

Google and Samsung in October of last year unveiled the Galaxy Nexus, which runs Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest version of the Android operating system. The Apple lawsuit specifically targets Ice Cream Sandwich "with its interactive features" in the lawsuit, contending that Galaxy Nexus sales will mean that "Apple loses not only market share in the smartphone market, but also an untold number of sales in the broader mobile device market."

Besides losing potential iPhone customers to the Galaxy Nexus, Apple’s filing said the company would suffer "incalculable" lost sales for iMacs, Macbooks and Apple TVs, the company contends.

Apple has filed lawsuits against Samsung around the world, claiming that Samsung products including smartphones and tablets violate numerous Apple patents. Apple has been granted injunctions in a number of the cases, with judges ordering Samsung to stop selling specific products, as well as requiring the company to make changes to its products. A German judge ruled last week that changes Samsung Electronics has made to the Galaxy Tab 10.1N are enough that Apple’s intellectual property rights are no longer being infringed with that product. However, another judge in a separate German court ruled that Samsung can continue to sell the Galaxy Nexus in Germany.

Chips are down

It’s not just Samsung on the receiving end. Last week Apple asked a federal court in California for an order enjoining Motorola Mobility from suing the company in other courts for patent infringement in connection with its use of chips from Qualcomm in its products.

Apple said in the lawsuit filed Friday before the United States District Court, Southern District of California that Motorola’s lawsuit in Germany, alleging infringement of its European Patent No. 1010336 (‘336 patent) in the iPhone 4S, is in direct breach of a patent licensing agreement between Qualcomm and Motorola, of which Apple is a third-party beneficiary.

Motorola’s rights under the ‘336 and its equivalent US Patent No. 6,359,898 (‘898 patent) are exhausted under the same contract, Apple said in the lawsuit.

A Qualcomm subsidiary sells the MDM6610 baseband processors to Apple’s contract manufacturers for their inclusion in its CDMA2000-compliant iPhone 4S, Apple said.

Motorola has sued Apple in a German court alleging that it infringes the ‘336 patent, claiming that it is not possible to practice the GPRS (general packet radio service) standard of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), without infringing the ‘336 patent. Motorola has pursued an aggressive international campaign of litigation that flies in the face of its promise to license its cellular standards-essential patents on FRAND (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory) terms, Apple said.

A lawsuit relating to alleged infringement of the equivalent ‘898 patent is also pending before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Apple has asked the court among other things for a declaratory judgment that Apple is allowed to use Qualcomm components under a covenant not to sue, and that Motorola’s patent rights in the Qualcomm MDM6610 chip and other Qualcomm components licensed under Motorola patents are exhausted.

It is also seeking permanent injunctive relief restraining Motorola from prosecuting patent infringement proceedings against Apple based on Apple’s use of the Qualcomm MDM6610 chip and other Qualcomm components licensed under Motorola patents in any forum other than the court in California.

IDG News Service

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