Motorola strikes out against RIM for mobile patent infringement

Mobile technology patents are golden, and the battles over intellectual property between major players in the mobile device space keep getting deeper. Today, Motorola filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission, charging BlackBerry maker Research in Motion with patent infringement.

Motorola is asking the ITC to investigate RIM's alleged infringement of five patents on "early stage innovations" such as Wi-Fi access, user interfaces, and application and power management.

"In light of RIM's continued unlicensed use of Motorola's patents, RIM's use of delay tactics in our current patent litigation, and RIM's refusal to design out Motorola's proprietary technology, Motorola had no choice but to file a complaint with the ITC to halt RIM's continued infringement. Motorola will continue to take all necessary steps to protect its R&D and intellectual property, which are critical to the Company's business," said Jonathan Meyer, senior vice president of intellectual property law at Motorola.

While RIM is already defending itself against Kodak in a digital imaging IP suit, this particular one is more like the current intellectual property fight between Nokia and Apple, where Nokia has alleged that Apple has willfully avoided paying licensing fees for certain technologies.