Apple-Motorola patent dispute may be settled through arbitration

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in General Discussion edited January 2014
Apple and Google subsidiary Motorola are said to be considering arbitration in an attempt to settle their ongoing patent infringement litigation.

Details of the preliminary discussions were revealed in a court filing highlighted by Bloomberg on Friday. The two companies have reportedly been exchanging proposals in which they would enter binding arbitration to reach a licensing agreement over standards essential patents.

Apple said in a filing that an agreement through arbitration could lead to a global settlement between the two companies. Google has also indicated it would prefer to see a global solution, not piecemeal.

Apple's filing stated that the company "agrees that arbitration may be the best vehicle to resolve the parties' dispute."

Last month, Apple also indicated to the Wisconsin court that it is willing to pay Google-owned Motorola Mobility no more than $1 per iPhone sold to license standard-essential patents. The iPhone maker told the court that if it set a FRAND rate at or below $1, Apple would take a license and start paying Motorola immediately.

Motorola


The rate Apple has said it is willing to pay is significantly lower than the 2.25 percent of Apple's sales that Motorola seeks for standard-essential patents. Mueller, an intellectual property expert, said he doesn't expect Motorola to "ever" receive a payout that large.

Talk of a settlement suggests that Apple could be working to settle another high-profile patent infringement suit. Just last weekend, Apple and HTC publicly announced they had settled all of their patent litigation out of court and agreed to a 10-year licensing deal.

The largest outstanding dispute for Apple remains with its chief rival, Samsung. One executive for the company signaled this week that they have no plans to settle with Apple as HTC did.

It has been said that HTC likely agreed to pay Apple between $6 and $8 for each handset it sells as part of a net licensing deal. Analyst Shaw Wu said this week that the HTC agreement could serve as a blueprint for a future deal with Motorola.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 22
    emig647emig647 Posts: 2,455member


    Good! Maybe they can then focus on innovation again.

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  • Reply 2 of 22
    There's a slight semantic difference between saying "no plans to settle" an "will never settle."
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  • Reply 3 of 22

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by emig647 View Post


    Good! Maybe they can then focus on innovation again.



    When have they stopped innovating?  It's not like all the engineers went on sabbatical while all these lawsuits were going on.

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  • Reply 4 of 22
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    emig647 wrote: »
    Good! Maybe they can then focus on innovation again.
    Yeah because this regurgitated quote is really innovative! :lol:
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  • Reply 5 of 22
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    So yo have Apple settling with HTC and now possibly Motorola all the while Samsung is digging its heels in. I love it. It's time for Samsung to feel the heat instead of always getting to play the innocent victim.
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  • Reply 6 of 22
    quinneyquinney Posts: 2,528member
    rogifan wrote: »
    So yo have Apple settling with HTC and now possibly Motorola all the while Samsung is digging its heels in. I love it. It's time for Samsung to feel the heat instead of always getting to play the innocent victim.

    Is that what they have been playing. It seems to me they envision themselves as all-powerful untouchable thugs.
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  • Reply 7 of 22

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by quinney View Post





    Is that what they have been playing. It seems to me they envision themselves as all-powerful untouchable thugs.


     


    Well but they are. At least in S Korea anyway. 

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  • Reply 8 of 22
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    quinney wrote: »
    Is that what they have been playing. It seems to me they envision themselves as all-powerful untouchable thugs.
    Yes they want people (e.g. the media and tech press) to portray Apple as thugs, unreasonable, patent abusers etc. while they're just poor little ol Samsung minding their own business.
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  • Reply 9 of 22
    hmmhmm Posts: 3,405member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post



    So yo have Apple settling with HTC and now possibly Motorola all the while Samsung is digging its heels in. I love it. It's time for Samsung to feel the heat instead of always getting to play the innocent victim.




    This is more nonsense. You'll see an eventual settlement. If both sides lose a few patents in the process due to validity, maybe you'll read about less litigation later. There's a strong chance they're just too far apart on terms right now. During the California case, a number of Apple's demands came out. They included a number of Bada based handsets and other things with seemingly harsh demands even if cross licensing was accepted by Samsung. I'm not sure whether they were negotiating in good faith at all. To know whether negotiation is possible at this point, you have to know how far apart they stand on these matters. Both sides could lose quite a bit from this. Apple could definitely lose a few recent patents. I have to wonder how they intend to defend that.


     


    The claim actually reads


     


     


    Quote:


    We claim the ornamental design for an electronic device, substantially as shown and described.



     


    The ornamental portions really do come down to the minimal styling elements. Things like port placement are functional. I've read through others including their descriptions, claims, etc. In many cases, I have no idea how they would defend such a thing.

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  • Reply 10 of 22

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Shameer Mulji View Post


    When have they stopped innovating?  It's not like all the engineers went on sabbatical while all these lawsuits were going on.



    He was probably referring to Motorola.


     


    Cheers

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  • Reply 11 of 22


    Actually its Apples lack of innovation requiring Moto's patents.

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  • Reply 12 of 22


    Originally Posted by petrosy View Post

    Actually its Apples lack of innovation requiring Moto's patents.


     


    Do you not get what FRAND is?

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  • Reply 13 of 22
    galbigalbi Posts: 968member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    Do you not get what FRAND is?



     


    Without Motorola's innovative contributions to the standard, Apple would not be able to do its thing.


     


    Whether Motorola shares it with the community or not is besides the point. The bottom line is: Motorola made the innovation in the first place (not Apple) and Apple is enjoying the benefits from it. They are just purchasing innovation and calling themselves "innovative" with their marketing spins.


     


    Innovation isnt just visible to the naked eye (as most people on here likes to assume). 


     


    The bulk of the innovation ( I might guess) comes from the things that are NOT visible to the naked eye.


     


    It just seems like other companies with more of an engineer focus are doing more basic science research where Apple is doing more application science research.

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  • Reply 14 of 22


    Originally Posted by Galbi View Post

    They are just purchasing innovation and calling themselves "innovative" with their marketing spins.


     


    This goes both ways, you know. Quite often it's not even paid.

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  • Reply 15 of 22
    Google isn't going to come out well when they realize how little they are getting for their Motorola patent portfolio
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  • Reply 16 of 22
    hmmhmm Posts: 3,405member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    This goes both ways, you know. Quite often it's not even paid.



    It varies. Companies always get something out of it. Apple offered up the mini displayport connector without a licensing fee. They wanted that to be the standard thunderbolt connector. Even then the license can be invalidated if litigation arises between Apple and the licensee. The articles around these cases so far have suggested that negotiations typically revolve around cross licensing terms.

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  • Reply 17 of 22

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Shameer Mulji View Post




    Quote:

    Originally Posted by emig647 View Post


    Good! Maybe they can then focus on innovation again.



    When have they stopped innovating?  It's not like all the engineers went on sabbatical while all these lawsuits were going on.



     


    Try this:


     


    http://www.tedxbrussels.eu/2012/speakers/steve_wozniak.php


     


    Seems like they stopped innovating way back .... when the lawyers took over and apple stopped being open. The funny bit is that Woz wonders if Apple is less innovative than Micro$oft in the meantime. Ouch ! 

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  • Reply 18 of 22
    galbigalbi Posts: 968member


    At least one thing we can all agree on: lawsuits only stiffle innovation.

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  • Reply 19 of 22


    Originally Posted by hmm View Post

    Even then the license can be invalidated if litigation arises between Apple and the licensee.


     


    Mini DisplayPort is part of the DisplayPort spec. Apple has no control over the licensing anymore.


     



    Originally Posted by Galbi View Post

    At least one thing we can all agree on: lawsuits only stiffle innovation.


     


    How.


     


    The question mark is implied. I'm not too lazy to type one, just making a point.

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  • Reply 20 of 22
    stefstef Posts: 87member
    Apple, please buy Google before Samsung does.
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