Mobile Phone Maker Taken To Court

Mobile phone maker Motorola is being sued by Intellectual Ventures over the use of six patents, BBC reports.

The patents are all used in Motorola-produced Android smartphones, the BBC report says. According to the report, Intellectual Ventures is accusing Motorola Mobility of “using its technology to perform file transfers, updates and remote data management and other functions on some of its smartphones.”

The two companies had reportedly been discussing a licensing deal for the patents since January. When no agreement was reached, Intellectual Ventures filed the lawsuit. Intellectual Ventures is reportedly seeking a trial and unspecified damages.

According to BBC, a statement from Intellectual Ventures said, “We have a responsibility to our current customers and our investors to defend our intellectual property rights against companies such as Motorola Mobility who use them without a license.”

Intellectual Ventures, owner of more than 35,000 patents, buys technological intellectual property from inventors and then negotiates licensing deals with major firms, generating money for investors and providing new technology for companies like Motorola Mobile.

BBC Reports that Google, which tried to buy Motorola Mobile for $12.5 billion in August, has invested money in Intellectual Ventures. Although the money from Google is associated with a different Intellectual Ventures fund than the one being used to sue Motorola, patent expert Florian Mueller told BBC that Google's backing of Intellectual Ventures was an "own goal.” Questioning its ability to defend its partners, Mueller also told BBC that Google’s failure to defend Android partners was “inexcusable.”

According to BBC, neither Motorola Mobile nor Google has commented on the case.

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