Motorola Doesn't Infringe Apple Patents: ITC Judge

(Reuters) - Motorola Mobility Inc did not violate Apple's patented technology in making its Droid, Cliq, BackFlip and other smartphones, a judge at the U.S. International Trade Commission said in a preliminary decision issued on Friday.

The full ITC will issue a final decision in March.

Apple had filed a complaint with the ITC in October of 2010, accusing Motorola Mobility of infringing three Apple patents to make its smartphones.

Two of the patents have to do with how the devices accept manual input when users type or handwrite on them while the third relates to ways for consumers to add applications without jumping through hoops like rebooting the smartphone.

The complaint, like many patent battles focusing on smartphones, is part of a larger fight between Apple and Google Inc's fast-growing Android operating system, which Motorola uses.

The ITC is a popular venue for patent disputes because it can order devices made with infringing technology barred from importation.

Google has reached an agreement to buy Motorola Mobility, and is seeking the antitrust approval needed to close the sale.

(Reporting By Diane Bartz; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

Check out the slideshow (below) to see some of the coolest patents Google ever filed.

Also on HuffPost:

Comments

[J5K]

01:51 PM on 01/16/2012

Love the MacBook with integrated solar panels... too bad those glossy screens aren't viewable in direct sunlight. ;-)

[Desolati0n]

06:49 AM on 01/16/2012

I wouldn't mind a shapeshifting iPod.

[sdgreen]

01:10 AM on 01/16/2012

Another win for the 'right' side. Apple me thinks just complains too much. I dislike Apple products all puff and too pricy!

[DavidEvan]

09:10 PM on 01/15/2012

Good now Apple can focus on hiring developers and engineers for better products instead of lawyers for patent claims and litigation.

[Lucille]

04:14 PM on 01/15/2012

Apple is both plaintiff and defendant to a lot of lawsuits but hopefully they will win more then they lose because the bottom line is, at least according to the late Steve Jobs, much of Apple's technology was stolen by their competitors so Apple has the right to fight back. If I were an inventor I’d be pretty bummed out that other companies can imitate my product with impunity.

[democratsaint]

04:25 PM on 01/15/2012

look and feel is patentable,you have to list what your patenting.well that sort of looks like it. apple did not invent the phone,maybe they should be sued.

[Lucille]

10:18 PM on 01/15/2012

Apple’s complaints against patent thief seemed to be legit as the response to one of those complaints was posted here at Huffingtonpost, and basically the Asian company pleaded to be able to sell their products and they in turn would forget about their countersuit (evidently brought as a response to Apple's complaint) which doesn't seem like any defense at all, so I imagine Apple will win more lawsuits then they lose.

[ccrevecoeur78]

04:01 PM on 01/16/2012

Thank you !!! I didn't hear Google make a fuss when apple announced icloud.

[Dennis]

11:00 AM on 01/15/2012

Apple Announces New Round of Infringement Lawsuits

Cupertino, CA, based Apple Inc. today announced a massive round of patent infringement lawsuits based on the unlicensed use of a device it calls the iWheel. An Apple spokesperson was quoted as saying "Any device or system making use of a cylindrical object with an axle in its center is illegally making use of patented Apple technology. This is blatant theft of Apple's cutting edge research." Apple plans to sue for damages and back licensing fees.

[rt1027]

12:57 PM on 01/15/2012

so now they can claim the invention of the wheel......too funny

[Mitchman57]

08:31 AM on 01/15/2012

If the 'concept' of licking an envelope hasn't been patented, I'm gonna make MILLIONS!

Or, the 'action' needed to scrape food off a fork with your teeth. Patented? Prolly not, huh?

This can get ridiculous. C'mon, Apple. Really.

[Stephen a Fazekas]

01:51 AM on 01/15/2012

Our patent system is a joke

[democratsaint]

04:27 PM on 01/15/2012

patent should last 2 years at most.patents are a hinderance to innovation,they also should be non transferable,only the original inventor can hold it,if he sells it,its open season.

[Stephen a Fazekas]

11:02 PM on 01/15/2012

if you add technological i would say yes 100%

[D-V-H]

11:48 PM on 01/14/2012

Nearly all of these patents are merely a small modification of existing technology. For example, on-screen gestures have been on Palms for over 10 years. Just imagine where tablets and smartphones would be if they had locked up that idea.

[David LS]

10:25 PM on 01/14/2012

Apples Rube Goldberg patents.
It's like putting LEDs on clothespins to let you know when there open.
They have achieved the unique status of more or less bells and whistle patents that the media waste the time to write about.

[njtopman4u]

09:22 PM on 01/14/2012

And that's why I hate Apple products.

[SURFERMOM]

11:30 AM on 01/15/2012

You must not be an artist.

[greyW]

02:05 PM on 01/15/2012

Hahaha, what. I don't know about njtopman4u, but I am an artist and I don't like Apple.

[mathme]

05:00 PM on 01/15/2012

They're the oppressive, outsourcing, law-suit-happy corporate entity that really speaks to my creativity.

[johnjohn4321]

08:26 PM on 01/14/2012

I love my new phone. It is just a phone.

[Michael Lee Smyth]

08:11 PM on 01/14/2012

I have a couple of friends who have been in IT since COBOL, (blast from the past), was the main language used. The way they explain it is that Apple is the new Microsoft, except instead of being sued by everyone for unfair practices, they sue everyone to prevent competition.
Apple has yet to make a product I need. I will keep my HP.

[tumbler snapper]

08:22 PM on 01/14/2012

No. Apple alleges infringement of one or more of their claims. This is not the same kind of anticompetitive behavior that Microsoft was alleged to have engaged in during the government's antitrust suit about twenty years ago.

[meglon978]

08:55 PM on 01/14/2012

It's not the same kind of anti-competitive behavior that had MS bundling only it's products with it's products, it's the kind of anti-competitive behavior of trying to make it so there's no competition at all.

[Michael Lee Smyth]

09:01 PM on 01/14/2012

Apple is claiming they should hold a patent on the use of other companies patented technology. It would be like the first company to have a carry around basket attempting to preent anyone else form using one. They did not invent it, but I will use my money and legal team to put you out of business because you cannot afford to fight the mighty AppleCorp. Microsoft used bundling and intentional poison pills within its source code.

[ScreenName05]

08:55 PM on 01/14/2012

Actually MS wasn't sued for anything dealing with patents, it was sued fur anti-trust and unfair competition activities - buying up or forcing its competitors out of business, building software that made other parties software fail.

Apple is taking advantage of a long term trend by the courts to change the patent laws to allow companies to protect ideas, instead of actual devices or products. Thus they patent concepts and design elements. I thought of something generally, therefore I own it for then next 75 years. For example, Apple tried to patent the concept of using a shopping cart on online stores. Although that didn't work a lot of similar ideas were locked up, and as a result the market is not fighting over those concepts.

I mean really, a patent on writing on screens as a design concept? Next Apple will want to claim it invented writing on paper.

[Phlan]

07:49 PM on 01/14/2012

Hey, I'm sick of you Apple haters insisting that Apple did not invent square and plastic.
Nothing was square and plastic until Steve Jobs invented it- okay? Sheesh!

[Revee]

08:20 PM on 01/14/2012

Faved. LOL!

[tumbler snapper]

08:25 PM on 01/14/2012

No one would recite "square" and "plastic" in any independent claim. Too limiting. Jobs had some good patent attorneys working for him, too. I know many of them.

[Phlan]

07:47 PM on 01/14/2012

And that is the formula that Apple adheres too.

Image over Functionality.