Google’s Motorola Takes Aim At Apple In New Patent Actions

San Diego – Google Inc. subsidiary Motorola Mobility LLC fired off two new salvos in its patent war with Apple Inc. over the weekend in the U.S. International Trade Commission and Delaware federal court, claiming Apple’s wide range of computers and mobile devices are based on patented Motorola technology and must be stopped from entering the U.S.

The complaint filed Friday in the ITC accuses Apple of infringing seven Motorola patents for mobile phone features such as the iPhone’s Siri voice assistant feature, location reminders, video players and email notifications.

“We would like to settle these patent matters, but Apple’s unwillingness to work out a license leaves us little choice but to defend ourselves and our engineers’ innovations,” a Motorola representative said Monday.

Apple representatives were not available for comment.

The products at issue include the iPod Touch, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad 2 and the new iPad, as well as the Mac Pro, iMac, Mac mini, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air.

The specific patents Motorola cites in the complaint include U.S. Patent Numbers 5,883,580, 5,922,047, 6,425,002, 6,983,370, 6,493,673, 7,007,064 and 7,383,983.

The ‘580 patent generally relates to messaging devices, the ‘047 patent relates to communication and control systems for multimedia, the ‘002 patent and ‘673 patent relate to communication devices, and the ‘370 patent relates to communications systems for messaging clients. The ‘064 patent relates to wireless communications systems providing content to wireless communication devices, while the ‘983 patent relates to managing content between devices.

Motorola is asking the ITC for a permanent exclusion order prohibiting the entry of the allegedly infringing products into the United States, as well as an order to bar Apple from importing or selling the products. Motorola requested that the ITC set a target date of no more than 15 months for the requested Section 337 investigation.

Google, which acquired Motorola in May, and Apple have been duking it out on multiple fronts over their patent portfolios for years. The latest actions, though, come on the heels of surprising reports that the two have joined forces in a consortium to purchase Eastman Kodak’s patent holdings at bankruptcy auction, as the Wall Street Journal detailed last week. The consortium is willing to pay over $500 million for Kodak’s patents, the Journal reported.