Miami court deals huge setback to #Motorola Mobility's defense against #Microsoft : Foss Patents

Motorola Mobility's defense strategy against Microsoft's patent infringement lawsuit just suffered a major setback. The best defense in patent disputes is a good offense, but after an order issued today, it's clear that MMI's federal countersuits against Microsoft are not going to trial anytime soon. There are several federal lawsuits going, and the earliest trial date is in late November 2012 -- for the others I haven't even seen a scheduling order, so I they will hardly go to trial before 2013.

In the meantime, Microsoft will get a decision on its ITC complaint against MMI. The target date for that investigation, which MMI failed to push back by three months, is March 5, 2012. As I explained two months ago, MMI appears to be on the losing track in that one. The related ITC hearing will start next Monday (August 22).

Patent Baristas » Intellectual Property & Antitrust Issues: Market Power

So how does one bridge the gap between antitrust laws and patent laws? Is one to understand that patent laws are inherently monopolistic in nature? In which case, the Congressional intent in enacting the Sherman, Clayton and FTC Acts is questionable. Is it that patent laws are divest from the purview of antitrust laws or can they be viewed as two sides of the same coin- aiding and abetting one another in enhancing consumer welfare and promoting innovation? “[T]he aims and objectives of patent and antitrust laws may seem, at first glance, wholly at odds. However, the two bodies of law are actually complementary, as both are aimed at encouraging innovation, industry and competition.” Atari Games Corp. v. Nintendo of America, Inc., 897 F.2d 1572, 1576. One may seek recourse to case laws, old and new, in addition to the various FTC reports in order to make sense of this conundrum.

Renesas Patent Complaint Seeks to Bar U.S. Imports of Vizio TVs - Bloomberg

Renesas Electronics Corp., the world’s biggest maker of microcontrollers used in cars and appliances, filed #patent -infringement complaints seeking to block Vizio Inc. televisions from the U.S.

Renesas accused Vizio of violating rights on two patents in an Aug. 12 filing with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington. The Japanese company also sued closely held Vizio in a federal court in Marshall, Texas.

Will #Apple Play Hardball with #HTC in #Android #Patent Battle?

For now, the trouble in assessing litigation risks stems from an inability to determine how punitive Apple will actually be if it wins a final ruling, expected to be made by the U.S. International Trade Commission in December, that HTC infringed on two of its patents having to do with the recognition and storage of email addresses and phone numbers.

HTC lost a preliminary ruling on those patents on July 15.

Quite a few analysts believe Apple and HTC might come to a cross-licensing agreement that will cost HTC a fixed sum per handset. HTC has most likely already made provisions for such a settlement, these analysts say, and it would be unlikely to do excessive long-term damage to the company.

#Google Tells #ITC Judge: #Microsoft Revealed Our Secret #Android Source Code

Google has asked a judge at the International Trade Commission to sanction Microsoft, saying that the company revealed “highly confidential source code” to an expert witness in violation of the court’s rules. The expert accessed the source code as part of Microsoft’s ITC case against Motorola, which alleges that some Android-powered Motorola phones violate Microsoft patents.

Microsoft’s ITC case against Motorola is one of several “proxy battles” against Android-powered phones. Microsoft wants to use patents to collect royalties on every Android-powered handset, and has reached settlements in some cases, including with HTC. But Motorola is fighting back hard, and launched its own ITC counter-suit not long after Microsoft kicked off the fight. Both ITC cases are still pending

#Apple, #Samsung, #Maidenform, #Louboutin: Intellectual Property

Apple also has patent-infringement claims against #Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. over its Xoom tablet computer. Motorola sued Apple first in Germany in April, and Apple responded by filing claims in May, said Christa Smith, a spokeswoman for Libertyville, Illinois-based Motorola Mobility.

“Motorola has reviewed Apple’s claims and believe they have no merit,” Smith said. “We intend to vigorously defend Motorola’s own product designs.”

The companies also have dueling litigation in the U.S. -- Motorola Mobility filed the first complaint against Apple at the U.S. International Trade Commission in October, and Apple countered the same month. The commission has the authority to block imports into the U.S."

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-11/apple-samsung-maidenform-louboutin-intellectual-property.html

#InterDigital Inc., filed infringement claims with a U.S. trade panel last month to boost the price of its intellectual property portfolio

InterDigital Inc., owner of about 1,300 U.S. #mobile -phone #patents, filed infringement claims with a U.S. trade panel last month to boost the price of its intellectual property portfolio, Huawei Technologies Co. said. 

The King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based company "may be using the commission's investigation process purely for the purpose of inflating its value as it prepares to sell its IP assets," Huawei said in an Aug. 5 letter to the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington.

InterDigital said July 19 it was considering a sale of its patent portfolio. The company filed a complaint with the ITC on July 26 that accused Huawei, Nokia Oyj and ZTE Corp. of infringing seven patents related to so-called third-generation wireless technology.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/08/09/bloomberg1376-LPMNCP07SXKX01-4L9J3TU8MGNTB4CFIP85KE3985.DTL#ixzz1UY3jFEb3

ITC Official Reviewing Kodak Case Vs Apple, RIM Retires - WSJ.com

ITC Official Reviewing Kodak Case Vs Apple, RIM Retires - WSJ.com:

"-The U.S. International Trade Commission official reviewing Eastman Kodak Co.'s patent complaint against Apple Inc. and Research in Motion Ltd. is retiring, casting further uncertainty on a case the camera company has said could bring in $1 billion."

HTC Files Appeal Against US Ruling Favoring Apple in S3 Graphics Patent Claim - WSJ.com

HTC Files Appeal Against US Ruling Favoring Apple in S3 Graphics Patent Claim - WSJ.com:

"HTC Corp. is appealing a U.S. International Trade Commission preliminary ruling declaring some Apple Inc. mobile products didn't violate patents held by S3 Graphics, HTC said in a statement Sunday."

S3 Patents that Apple Violated Were Ruled Unpatentable | Analysis | The Mac Observer

S3 Patents that Apple Violated Were Ruled Unpatentable | Analysis | The Mac Observer:

In a rather interesting turn of events, the two patents owned by S3 that the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) were being violated by Apple’s Mac OS X operating system have been ruled to be unpatentable due to prior art by the U.S. Patent & Trade Mark Office (USPTO). The curious thing about the ruling, however, is that it came the same day as the ITC ruling, five days before HTC bought S3 in order to use that ITC ruling against Apple...

According to Mr. Macari’s analysis, there isn’t anything that necessarily binds the ITC to pay attention to USPTO reviews, but it’s common for it to do so. The other two S3 patents were still being reviewed, however, and it’s a complete coincidence that the USPTO’s review findings were issued on the same day that AL Gildea issued his own ruling.

All this happened on July 1st — the ITC found that Apple was infringing on the S3 patents (it was July 26th when the ITC revealed some details of the ruling, including that it was Apple’s Mac OS X that infringed, clearing iOS in the process) and the USPTO ruled those same patents as unpatentable.

Motorola files patent lawsuits against Apple

Motorola has filed two patent lawsuits and a patent complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) alleging that a wide range of Apple products infringe its patents.

The three complaints cover 18 Motorola patents, including communication technologies related to W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), general packet radio service (GPRS), 802.11 and antenna design, as well as smartphone technologies related to wireless e-mail, proximity sensing, application management and location-based services, Motorola said in a press release.