Apple Sues Motorola Over Qualcomm License

Apple sued Motorola in the U.S. today in an effort to stop the company from asserting its patent claims in Germany, reports Reuters.

The suit, filed in a San Diego federal court, argues that Motorola's German lawsuit against Apple breaches terms of a patent licensing agreement between Motorola and Qualcomm .

Apple says that as a Qualcomm customer, Apple is a third-party beneficiary of Motorola's agreement with Qualcomm. Under that agreement, Motorola's rights under certain patents are exhausted, Apple argues.


Apple also said Motorola's international campaign of litigation "flies in the face" of its promise to license standard essential patents on fair and reasonable terms.

"Despite owning scores of standards essential patents, Apple has never asserted a standard essential patent in litigation," it said.

Apple has also filed a request with the European Telecommunications Standards Institute to set rules for the licensing of standard essential patents. It recently expressed outrage at the percentage of sales Motorola was demanding for use of its standard essential patents.

"Motorola repeatedly refuses to license this patent to Apple on reasonable terms, despite having declared it an industry standard patent seven years ago."


That amount is reportedly 2.25% of sales.

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