Motorola Mobility has filed a new U.S. lawsuit, presumably with approval from Google, against Apple, seeking an injunction against the newly released iPhone 4S as well as the iCloud service.
The latest complaint was filed by Motorola against Apple in the Southern District of Florida. It cites six patents that were previously used in complaints against older Apple hardware and services.
The complaint was likely authorized by Google, Forian Mueller of FOSS Patents noted on Wednesday, as Google's proposed takeover of Motorola Mobility gives the search giant control over such actions. The merger agreement between the two companies states that Motorola cannot "assert any Intellectual Property Right in any new Action" without the consent of Google.
The six patents named in Motorola's latest suit against Apple are:
- U.S. Patent No. 5,710,987 - "Receiver having concealed external antenna"
- U.S. Patent No. 5,754,119 - "Multiple pager status synchronization system and method"
- U.S. Patent No. 5,958,006 - "Method and apparatus for communicating summarized data"
- U.S. Patent No. 6,101,531 - "System for communicating user-selected criteria filter prepared at wireless client to communication server for filtering data transferred from host to said wireless client"
- U.S. Patent No. 6,008,737 - "Apparatus for controlling utilization of software added to a portable communication device"
- U.S. Patent No. 6,377,161 - "Method and apparatus in a wireless messaging system for facilitating an exchange of address information"
The new lawsuit was filed because Motorola's previous complaint, which was first filed in 2010, is too far along for new patents to be added. A trial in that case is scheduled to be held this summer.
"It's certainly not the same kind of aggressive escalation as a lawsuit over a new set of patents would have been, but this shows that Motorola continues to fight hard," Mueller wrote. "The fact that Google signs off on an additional lawsuit at this stage -- as opposed to waiting for its purchase of MMI to close -- also says something."