Apple lodged FRAND abuse complaint against Motorola with European Commission

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014


A regulatory filing from Motorola Mobility has revealed that Apple has complained to the European Commission over the handset maker's efforts to obtain injunctions against its rival by wielding standards-essential patents with FRAND commitments.



Motorola's Form 10-K annual report, filed (via MacNN), revealed that the company has just received a letter from the commission notifying it of Apple's complaint. The form disclosed ongoing legal proceedings, including its dispute with Apple.



Apple's complaint was submitted to the Competition Directorate-General and asked for the commission to intervene "with respect to standards-essential patents" (SEPs). The iPhone maker alleges that Motorola has breached its Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory commitments for its SEPs.



FRAND commitments are vital to the establishing of industry standards, especially within the wireless industry. Companies are often required to agree to license their patents on FRAND terms to competitors in order before submitting their intellectual property to standard-setting organizations. Court filings show that Motorola has offered Apple a patent license, but Apple believes the 2.25 percent royalty rate that its rival is seeking is unfair, unreasonable and discriminatory.











In Friday's filing, Motorola also said it expects International Trade Commission cases brought against it by Apple and Microsoft to be resolved in the second and third quarters of this year. The company warned that ITC losses could require it to expend "significant resources to pay damages, to develop non-infringing products or to obtain licenses." In addition, patent licenses could either be unavailable or commercially unreasonable and might potentially result in the blocking of Motorola's devices in the U.S. market.



Outside of Europe, Apple has also petitioned U.S. courts for relief from Motorola's SEP litigation. The company filed suit against Motorola in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California last week, alleging breach of contract on Motorola's part. Apple claims that its agreements with Qualcomm have given it a license for the two SEPs that Motorola is asserting against Apple in Germany.



Motorola had previously won injunctions against Apple for alleged infringement of push services and GPRS patents. Apple was found not to have infringed on a third standards-essential patent that Motorola brought against it in Germany.



For its part, Apple recently won a victory against Motorola in Germany. Earlier this week, a Munich regional court issued a permanent injunction against Motorola products that had been found to be infringing on Apple's slide-to-unlock patent.



The legal battle between the two companies could heat up even further when Google completes its acquisition of Motorola. At the least, the search giant has said it will uphold Motorola's aggressive tactics with respect to FRAND licensing. Though Apple and Google have become fierce rivals in several key industries, the companies have thus far largely avoided direct legal confrontations.



Both the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission have approved the $12.5 billion merger, but they have also voiced concerns that Google will abuse the patents it acquires from Motorola. The DoJ called out Google for being "more ambiguous" than Apple or Microsoft in its commitments to upholding FRAND licensing terms for standards-essential patents.



[ View article on AppleInsider ]

«134567

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 130
    Maybe it was just all posturing from the start.
  • Reply 2 of 130
    hill60hill60 Posts: 6,992member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tundraboy View Post


    Maybe it was just all posturing from the start.



    Not posturing, marketing.
  • Reply 3 of 130
    I'm predicting the EU will side with Apple.
  • Reply 4 of 130
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hill60 View Post


    Not posturing, marketing.



    But I thought Apple patented "marketing". I mean, that's the only reason people, er I mean sheep, buy Apple's products.



    ...
  • Reply 5 of 130
    There is absolutely no way this can go in favor of Motorola. This is going to hurt real bad.



    And believe me, Google is going to hurt even more - just as their merger with Motorola gets regulatory approval, their entire rationale for buying Motorola is getting destroyed.



    Irrespective of whether Oracle wins against Google, Google has just blown $12.5B on a loss making company!
  • Reply 6 of 130
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post


    I'm predicting the EU will side with Apple.



    Yep, there is someone high up in Motorola (or Google) that is about to start sweating bullets.



    I hope Motorola gets an axe right in the skull for this.
  • Reply 7 of 130
    I think Google's blatant violation of Apple's privacy policies, coupled with their FTC warning will muzzle Google's litigation for some time. I know that the patent issues and the privacy issues are apples and oranges - but in the end they are all both about corporate posturing and control. This week Google has lost control of that, and with Apple's recent win over HTC I think this will mark the end of the "patent wars".



    I would very much like to see Apple sue Google for their transgressions and take the proceeds (and Apple would win) and donate them to the Electronic Frontier Foundation - a non-profit organization that has championed digital rights since 1990.
  • Reply 8 of 130
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Pendergast View Post


    But I thought Apple patented "marketing". I mean, that's the only reason people, er I mean YOUNG and RICH sheep, buy Apple's products.



    ...



    There, fixed it for yer
  • Reply 9 of 130
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Pendergast View Post


    But I thought Apple patented "marketing". I mean, that's the only reason people, er I mean sheep, buy Apple's products.



    ...



    And that's just it, isn't it?



    Apple's products get bought unlike most of Motorola's rubbish since the RAZR...way back in 2004.



    I can't say I blame them for doing a quick, FRAND-related cash grab.
  • Reply 10 of 130
    June 2012 : Apple initiates thermonuclear war with Google : The Safari browser is enabled (as an option) to block any advertisement, which is not against any regulation. Of course, Safari market share is just a fraction of the total, but this fraction matters for announcers (especially because Apple users are high purchasing power people).



    Google suffers ...
  • Reply 11 of 130
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by umrk_lab View Post


    June 2012 : Apple initiates thermonuclear war with Google : The Safari browser is enabled (as an option) to block any advertisement, which is not against any regulation. Of course, Safari market share is just a fraction of the total, but this fraction matters for announcers (especially because Apple users are high purchasing power people).



    Google suffers ...



    Let's not forget what Reader and Siri will be doing to Google's advertisements.



    Hard to be influenced when you never saw the advertisement in the first place.
  • Reply 12 of 130
    adamcadamc Posts: 583member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Pendergast View Post


    But I thought Apple patented "marketing". I mean, that's the only reason people, er I mean sheep, buy Apple's products.



    ...



    It's a case of mindless bots vs sheep.
  • Reply 13 of 130
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Pendergast View Post


    But I thought Apple patented "marketing". I mean, that's the only reason people, er I mean sheep, buy Apple's products.



    ...



    On the contrary, Apple is for discerning people who are not swayed by upfront cheap prices and gimmicks. They would rather pay for a product that saves them time in innumerable ways - when things just work, without having to reboot often, or clean up malware/viruses, etc. Whether it is Android or Windows, most people are forced to spend an inordinate amount of time figuring out what is wrong, rooting the OS, etc.



    I wonder if people consider the upfront cost of antivirus protection for the life of a Windows machine, plus the performance hit from having to run antivirus constantly.



    If you consider the overall value proposition, you are much better off with Apple.



    Or maybe you consider Apple folks sheep because they don't want to deal with the malware and viruses that Android and Windows users constantly deal with. If so, let the Android and Windows users be lions, and we will be sheep. Only difference is that it is the Lions that are being slaughtered by the hackers.
  • Reply 14 of 130
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by macarena View Post


    Irrespective of whether Oracle wins against Google...



    Oracle's latest damages report says they deserve several million for both the copyright and patent claims (of which another has been tossed from the case). No, not billions that Oracle supposedly wanted from Google that was used for splash articles.



    Oracle's damages expert, Dr. Cockburn "comes up with a proposed number that is nothing near the multiple billions that made headlines when this case was first announced, the expert now valuing the patents at $57.1 million as the highest proposed figure. He values the copyrights at the highest end at between $52.4 million and $169 million, which is ridiculous anyway, but remember the headlines when Oracle first announced this litigation? That Google could lose up to $6.1 billion if it lost this case? That was never realistic."



    Oracle's case appears to have been heavily overstated from the beginning.

    http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?s...20218041255197
  • Reply 15 of 130
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by macarena View Post


    I wonder if people consider the upfront cost of antivirus protection for the life of a Windows machine, plus the performance hit from having to run antivirus constantly.




    Excellent AV is available for free.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by macarena View Post


    If you consider the overall value proposition, you are much better off with Apple.



    Extremely fast Windows machines are available for less then Macs of lesser speed, even when running AV.
  • Reply 16 of 130
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by I am a Zither Zather Zuzz View Post


    Excellent AV is available for free.







    Extremely fast Windows machines are available for less then Macs of lesser speed, even when running AV.



    Even if true, which is debatable as they get slower and slower over time, you'd still be running a crap OS from the last century on a machine made of the cheapest junk with a terrible design. Ever thought the reason sales are plunging while Mac sales are soaring could be because Macs are way better., . But of course you already know all this and are just having fun on the blog
  • Reply 17 of 130
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Gatorguy View Post


    Oracle's latest damages report says they deserve several million for both the copyright and patent claims (of which another has been tossed from the case). No, not billions that Oracle supposedly wanted from Google that was used for splash articles.



    Oracle's damages expert, Dr. Cockburn "comes up with a proposed number that is nothing near the multiple billions that made headlines when this case was first announced, the expert now valuing the patents at $57.1 million as the highest proposed figure. He values the copyrights at the highest end at between $52.4 million and $169 million, which is ridiculous anyway, but remember the headlines when Oracle first announced this litigation? That Google could lose up to $6.1 billion if it lost this case? That was never realistic."



    Oracle's case appears to have been heavily overstated from the beginning.

    http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?s...20218041255197



    All fine, but this will not be known for good till the dust is settled.



    If there is a proven infringement, there is a strong likelihood of an injunction. At that point it really does not matter if the damages figure is in millions or billions. And you know as well as anyone else, Oracle is not in this just for the money. They will insist that Google remove all the non-compliant features of Dalvik, and respect Java's Write Once Run Anywhere paradigm. Without that, there is no way Google can get a license for Java.



    Just wait till Google tries to comply with Java guidelines and see how crippled Android will be after that. In all likelihood, Google will decide to give up on Java/Dalvik and go with C or C++.



    Then see the impact.
  • Reply 18 of 130
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by I am a Zither Zather Zuzz View Post


    Excellent AV is available for free.







    Extremely fast Windows machines are available for less then Macs of lesser speed, even when running AV.



    Please provide evidence for your statement "Extremely fast Windows machines are available for less then Macs of lesser speed, even when running AV."
  • Reply 19 of 130
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post


    Even if true, which is debatable as they get slower and slower over time, you'd still be running a crap OS from the last century on a machine made of the cheapest junk with a terrible design. Ever thought the reason sales are plunging while Mac sales are soaring could be because Macs are way better., . But of course you already know all this and are just having fun on the blog







    Some get slower over time. But likewise with AV, if one runs good free malware software that comes alive in the middle of the night and does its silent but deadly thing, that too is not a problem. Automatic and free defrag comes standard with Windows 7.



    Dunno about the other stuff. Machines are available in all price/quality ranges. Some folks get "the cheapest laptop ever!" while others want a well-made, durable machine.



    I was responding to the "AV software is expensive and causes a performance hit" thing. Non-technical users are likely to be better off with a Mac. Even more so after the Mac is transitioned to iOS.
  • Reply 20 of 130
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Pendergast View Post


    But I thought Apple patented "marketing". I mean, that's the only reason people, er I mean sheep, buy Apple's products.



    ...



    Baa-aaa-aaa





    And I say that proudly.
Sign In or Register to comment.