It's a busy week at the International Trade Commission, which today found that Apple has infringed on a 3G patent held by Motorola.
Administrative Law Judge Thomas B. Pender today issued an initial determination that found Apple guilty of patent infringement by importing and selling the iPhone and 3G-enabled iPads in the U.S.
The decision is not final; the full ITC must consider the case and is scheduled to issue a ruling in late summer. The ITC ruled against Motorola on three other patents.
"We are pleased that the ALJ's 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. "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 did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The offending patent covers an "essential" technology, or one that is required for operation. They are often covered under FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) licensing obligations, which are intended to keep major corporations in check and avoid abusive patent-related behavior. Basically, if a company holds a patent on a technology that is essential to a particular industry, they should make every effort to license that technology, even to major rivals.
Motorola, however, has been accused of seeking exorbitant licensing fees and then suing companies that don't accept its terms. As a result, the European Commission opened a patent abuse investigation into Motorola earlier this month, after fielding complaints from Microsoft and Apple. The EU is also investigating Samsung on similar grounds.
Patent blogger Florian Mueller was skeptical that Apple would be forced to pull the iPhone or iPad from U.S. store shelves. "Motorola will have to fight hard for a ruling of broader scope, and I'm sure it will," he wrote in a post.
Last month, documents released by the European Commission showed that Apple and Motorola Mobility held talks in late 2011 in an effort to reach a cross-licensing deal over patents, an effort that was obviously unsuccessful.
In February, Judge Dr. Peter Guntz of the Munich I Regional Court found that some of Motorola Mobility's products infringe on Apple's slide-to-unlock image patent. Earlier, meanwhile, the same Munich court threw out one of Motorola's patent claims against Apple regarding 3G/UMTS wireless technology.
But that came after two wins for Motorola. In December, a Manheim judge found that certain Apple products infringe on Motorola patents for data packet transfer technology (GPRS). That prompted the temporary removal of several Apple products from its German online store. In February, the Manheim court also granted a permanent injunction against Apple's iCloud push email notifications.
Today's ITC decision comes one day after Motorola also secured a victory against Microsoft regarding Xbox patents.