Apple fails to obtain injunction against Motorola in the US

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Claims by Apple that Motorola's Droid line of Android powered smartphones infringe its patents were rejected by US regulatory body, the International Trade Commission in the last 24 hours. The results are another blow to Apple's "marketing by litigation" approach to marketplace competition. Had the decision gone Apple's way, there's little doubt that the iPhone maker would have pressed for a total ban on sales of the supposedly infringing Droid handsets in the 'States, a catastrophic result for Motorola. Fortunately though, the ITC concluded that Apple's claims were bogus and the Droids live on in the US of A.

This decision is just one of several that have gone against Apple in recent weeks, yet the Cupertino Lawyer Enrichment specialist has many other patent suits active across the globe so it's inevitable that some will eventually go their way. But it seems that some Wall Street analysts have been building Apple's litigation successes into their evaluations of the 800lb tech gorilla's earnings and capitalization, indeed claiming that the patent suits will be a contributor to potentially massive gains due to inflated royalty payments demanded or competition being blocked from selling their devices at all. So even Wall Street recognizes that Apple will be ever more litigious in order to meet their need to protect their gigantic profit margins, and thus their share value.

Meanwhile, obviously enjoying the win, Motorola Mobility's General Counsel, Scott Offer said… "We are pleased with today's favorable outcome… 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."

Recently, Motorola gained a successful injunction decision in Germany which could result in all Apple's 3G capable devices being banned in that nation, but more ominously for Apple, the ban may be valid for every country in the European Union. So far, Motorola Mobility has refrained from announcing publicly what action they'll take, but it's speculated that Apple is attempting to reach an agreement to allow iDevice sales to continue. Watch this space.

An interesting sidenote to this particular battle is that Google is purchasing Motorola Mobility, presumably in part for the huge patent portfolio they possess. Industry watchers see this as a storing of ammo against Apple when it finally feels it needs to sue Google/Android directly, rather than attack via skirmishes with Android's partners, the handset makers. No doubt this strategy from Apple is in its early stages so expect the battles to get more frequent and widespread. And uglier.

Source: CNET