Apple fueled the tit-for-tat battle over smartphone technology Friday, counter-suing Motorola for infringing six of its patents.
The lawsuits, filed in a US district court, take aim at mobile devices such as the Droid 2, Motorola’s OS, user interfaces and installed application software.
Chief among the patents infringed is Apple’s Multi-Touch technology, Patentlyapple.com reported.
The move is a response to a Motorola lawsuit filed against Apple earlier in October, claiming infringement of 18 patents and calling for a ban on imports and sales of the units in the US.
Motorola vowed to defend itself “vigorously,” and to stick with its legal action against AppleFT.com said.
Apple’s action is the latest in a growing list of smartphone patent litigation in recent months.
The firm locked horns with Nokia in September when it filed suits in the UK and added to a raft of actions filed late 2009. Nokia retorted in October with fresh actions in the US.
Microsoft filed suit against Motorola in October in what was seen as an indirect dig at Google’s Android operating system.
Android is also challenged in an Apple lawsuit against HTC, while Google itself is the subject of lawsuits filed by Oracle claiming infringement of Java.
The battles are the result of the erosion of a patent pool agreement between device vendors as technology has moved on, FT.com notes.
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