Motorola Files Complaint with ITC Against RIM

Mobile phone maker Motorola announced on Friday that it filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) against Canadian handset vendor Research In Motion. The complaint from Motorola alleges that RIM engaged in unfair trade practices by the importation and sale of RIM products that infringe on five of Motorola’s patents.”

According to Motorola, the five patents listed in its complaint are related to a series of “early-stage innovations” the company developed in various technology areas, including the “Wi-Fi access, application management, user interface and power management,” all of which are currently used by RIM. Motorola claims that these patents are of great importance due to the fact that they offer it a “more comprehensive connectivity,” along with an enhanced user experience and lower product costs.

What the maker asked ITC includes for the Commission to conduct an investigation into RIM’s use of Motorola’s patents, as well as to ban the imports of the handset vendor's products that infringe the said patents. At the same time, Motorola also requests the “prohibiting of further sales of infringing products that have already been imported,” and for all the marketing, advertising or warehousing for distribution of such imported products in the United States be halted.

Jonathan Meyer, senior vice president of intellectual property law at Motorola, said, “Through its early-stage development of the cellular industry and billions of dollars spent on research and development, Motorola has created an industry-leading intellectual property portfolio that is respected by the entire telecommunications industry. 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.”