Susan Decker Washington
Apple has won a patent-infringement case brought by Google’s Motorola Mobility unit over a phone sensor, averting an order that could have hindered imports of the iPhone 4 into the US.
On Monday the US International Trade Commission (ITC) in Washington upheld a judge’s findings that the Motorola Mobility patent was invalid, though for different reasons. The patent covers a sensor that prevents the phone from accidentally hanging up or activating an application when close to a person’s face.
The decision marks the latest instance in which neither Apple nor Google has been able to strike a decisive blow against its competitor in a squabble that began more than two years ago. Each has claimed the other was infringing patents, and Apple accused Motorola Mobility of breaching obligations to license some of its most widely used technology on fair terms.
“This is not a surprise because the commission has heretofore not found a violation by Apple in any case as to any claim in any patent,” said Rodney Sweetland, a patent lawyer with Duane Morris. “The commission is particularly attentive to the details in cases involving Apple, which implicate such a popular product and such an important part of commerce.”
Matt Kallman, a spokesman for Google, said the company was disappointed and was “evaluating our options”. Amy Bessette, a spokeswoman for Apple, said the company had no comment.
The iPhone, in all models, generated $78.7 billion (R727bn) in sales last fiscal year for Apple, about half of company revenue. The devices are assembled in China and imported into the US. Apple’s newest model, the iPhone 5, has been the company’s top seller since going on sale in September last year. Still, reduced-price older models like the iPhone 4 had retained their popularity, Canaccord Genuity said.
Apple was scheduled to report earnings yesterday. Analysts predict it will post its first profit decline since 2003, hurt by products with lower profit margins and slower iPhone sales growth.
Seventeen analysts surveyed by Bloomberg have lowered their outlook for the company in the past month.
The dispute with Motorola Mobility predates the latter’s acquisition by Google last year. Apple contends phones running on Google’s Android operating system copy the look and features that make the iPhone unique. In addition to Motorola Mobility and Samsung, Apple sued Taiwanese handset maker HTC in a case that settled in November last year with royalty payments and a pledge that HTC would not copy Apple designs.
At stake is a share of a US smartphone market estimated at $51bn last year by Neil Shah, an analyst with Strategy Analytics. Apple was the largest maker of smartphones in the US, with about 45 percent of the devices sold in the fourth quarter, he said last month.
Apple is appealing the loss of its own case against Motorola Mobility at the agency over touchscreen technology, and both companies are challenging a decision by a judge in Chicago to toss infringement claims they filed against each other.
A federal judge in Miami presiding over another dispute between the two called them “obstreperous and cantankerous” and said they were more interested in never-ending litigation as a business strategy than in resolving disputes.
Google paid $12.4bn for Motorola Mobility in large part to get access to its trove of more than 17 000 patents and gain leverage against Apple.
The sensor patent was all that was left of a case that also involved claims Apple infringed Motorola Mobility patents for third-generation wireless technology. The ITC cleared Apple of those allegations.
ITC Judge Thomas Pender said the Google sensor patent was invalid because it was not different enough from earlier inventions. – Bloomberg