Motorola Mobility scores initial victory against Apple in patents legal battle

GlobalPost

Motorola Mobility today scored an initial legal victory in its bid to have imports of Apple's iconic devices, including the iPhone and iPad, blocked.

A US International Trade Commission judge ruled that Apple had infringed on a 3G patent owned by Motorola Mobility, Bloomberg reported. It was one of four patents that Motorola Mobility, which Google is buying for $12.5 billion, claimed Apple had breached.

But Judge Thomas Pender's word is not final -- the full commission will review his decision and a final ruling will be made in August.

"We are pleased that the... initial determination finds Apple to be in violation of Motorola Mobility's intellectual property, and look forward to the full commission's ruling in August," a Motorola spokeswoman said in a statement, PC Magazine reported. 

"Our commitment to innovation is a primary reason why we are an industry-leader in intellectual property, and our focus continues to be on building on this strong foundation to enhance the user experience."

Apple said it was confident of winning the legal stoush, in the end. 

“A court in Germany has already ruled that Apple did not infringe on this patent, so we believe we will have a very strong case on appeal,” Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet told Bloomberg in a telephone interview, referring to the one patent Apple was found to have violated.

According to Reuters, Motorola Mobility has filed related lawsuits against Apple in Illinois and Florida. 

The legal challenges are taking place amid an intense battle for market share between Apple's products and smartphones that use Google's Android software, Reuters said.

More from GlobalPost: Apple earnings nearly double on brisk iPhone Q1 sales

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