Apple Loses Case Against Motorola Mobility

The US International Trade Commission decided on Friday the 13th that Motorola Mobility’s Android-bearing smartphones don’t infringe the three Apple patents Apple claims they infringe. The decision by one of the agency’s administrative law judges is called preliminary because Apple is likely to insist that it be reviewed by ITC’s panel of six commissioners by May 14. FOSS Patents blogger Florian Mueller says one of the patents is “essential to Apple’s litigation strategy” and that’s US Patent No 7,663,607, the broadest touchscreen hardware patent Apple has. It used it to get Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 briefly outlawed in Australia. Mueller says the MMI decision might “adversely affect Apple’s lawsuits against Samsung in which the multipoint touchscreen patent is being asserted.” An initial decision on MMI’s ITC complaint charging Apple with infringing 18 of its patents is due April 23.

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