Motorola Sues Apple Over iPhone And iCloud

Motorola Mobility has filed a lawsuit against Apple claiming that six Apple products, including the iPhone 4S and the iCloud storage and computing service, infringe Motorola patents.

The lawsuit cites infringements relating to wireless antennas, messaging and data filtering technology as well as other software patents.

The patent saga

The case, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, is the latest in a long line of suits and counter-suits between the two.

In December, a German court granted a preliminary injunction against Apple for a patent violation, potentially preventing sales of iPhones and iPads in the country based on an appeal. Earlier this month, the US International Trade Commission ruled in a preliminary decision that Apple design patents were not infringed upon within various Motorola handsets.

Apple, which most notably campaigning to block sales of Samsung products, also filed a patent lawsuit against Motorola’s Xoom tablet last year.

According to The Guardian, this latest claim by Motorola was given specific permission by Google, which is in the process of acquiring the mobile manufacturer for $12.5 billion (£8 billion). Based on the terms of a legal agreement signed between the two companies, Google, as the parent, is required to sign off on any new lawsuits over intellectual property, suggesting further courtroom escalation between the two technology giants.

Last year Google sold nine patents to HTC for the purpose of pursuing lawsuits against Apple. The acquisition of Motorola and its large cache of patents could launch further and potentially more direct action against the iPhone and iPad and will certainly bolster defences for the Android operating system.