Motorola Inc. and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. sued one another over mobile-phone patents, each claiming their competitor is using handset technology without permission.
Motorola, the biggest U.S. maker of mobile phones, asked a U.S. judge in Marshall, Texas, Feb. 16 to order Research In Motion to stop the infringement. That company filed its own suit in federal court in Dallas the same day over similar claims, Research In Motion spokeswoman Tenille Kennedy said today.
Winning the dispute would help the victor bolster its rank in the market for ``smart phones'' that can send e-mail, whose sales are growing almost six times as fast as that of the overall industry. Research In Motion has won consumers with models such as the Pearl, which plays music and has a camera. Motorola's counterpoint is the Q model, which has a full keyboard.
``This is probably largely about mobile e-mail,'' said Richard Windsor, an analyst at Nomura International in London. ``Both of these companies have product businesses to protect.'' The analyst recommends selling the shares of Waterloo, Ontario- based Research In Motion.
Research In Motion has more than 8 million subscribers in North America for its BlackBerry e-mail device. Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc. and other phone companies pay the company a fee of about $6 a month for each subscriber that uses BlackBerry e-mail. The Motorola suit targets the 8100, 8130, 8320, 8800, 8820 and 8830 models, as well as BlackBerry Exchange Server software.
Motorola's Claims
Research In Motion ``willfully'' infringed the patents, causing ``irreparable harm,'' Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola said in its complaint. Motorola also is seeking cash compensation for past infringement of the inventions, according to the complaint.
The technology Motorola is suing over includes a method of storing contact information in wireless e-mails and a way of recognizing incoming phone numbers, court papers show.
Research In Motion's lawsuit claims Motorola infringed its patents, including one for a device ``with a keyboard optimized for use with the thumbs,'' according to court papers provided by the company. It also accused Motorola of anticompetitive behavior by demanding ``exorbitant royalties'' for its patents.
Motorola last year introduced new versions of its Q e-mail phone, which resembles the BlackBerry. It also bought Good Technology Inc. in January 2007 to provide wireless e-mail service, as Research In Motion does.
Smart Phones
Global smart-phone shipments climbed 72 percent last quarter to 35.5 million devices, with U.S. sales of such devices tripling, according to Reading, England-based researcher Canalys. That compares with a 13 percent increase for handsets over all.
The BlackBerry had 41 percent of the U.S. smart-phone market last quarter, Canalys said this month. That share has helped Research In Motion double sales for two straight quarters. Motorola, whose Q phone ranked outside the top three in the Canalys survey, has posted declining handset sales for four quarters in a row.
The Eastern District of Texas, where Motorola's complaint was filed, was the second-most-favorable jurisdiction for patent owners who sued from 1995 to 2006, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP study last year. Only the Western District of Wisconsin was found to be more favorable.
Motorola regards its intellectual property as ``critical'' to its business and believes Research In Motion's suit is ``entirely out of merit,'' spokeswoman Jennifer Erickson said. No one at Research In Motion was available to comment beyond the complaint.
NTP Dispute
Research In Motion in 2006 paid $612.5 million to settle a patent dispute with NTP Inc., ending a four-year legal battle and averting the shutdown of BlackBerry e-mail service across the U.S. NTP claimed its patents covered technology used in BlackBerry devices.
``RIM's legal problems stem from 2001, when it was very inexperienced in this area,'' Windsor said. ``They will probably not make the same kind of errors or misjudgments they made that time.''
The Motorola suit is Motorola Inc. v. Research In Motion Ltd., 08cv69, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas (Marshall).
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