Apple loses in ITC's initial ruling against Motorola Mobility

An initial ruling by Theodore R. Essex, an Administrative Law Judge at the U.S International Trade Commission (ITC) has brought some much needed respite to Motorola Mobility, one of world’s most popular smartphone manufacturers. Albeit, just a preliminary ruling and not the final one, Foss Patents reports that according to the ITC ruling, Motorola Mobility does not infringe on any of Apple’s three patents. Apple, however can be expected to file an appeal for review, soon. A final verdict in this respect can be expected to come around only by May 14th, 2012. Filed first in October 2010 by Apple, this ITC complaint is being referred to as the smallest one to date, owing to the fact that it involved only three patents. 

The notice by the Administrative Law Judge

The patents in question, include - object-oriented system locator system (U.S. Patent No. 5,379,430), ellipse fitting for multi-touch surfaces (U.S. Patent No. 7,812,828) and multipoint touchscreen (U.S. Patent No. 7,663,607). In an official statement released by the company, closely following the ruling, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Motorola Mobility, Scott Offer stated that, “We are pleased with today’s favorable outcome for Motorola Mobility. Motorola Mobility has worked hard over the years to develop technology and build an industry-leading intellectual property portfolio. We are proud to leverage this broad and deep portfolio to create differentiated innovations that enhance the user experience.”

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