While Samsung has been battling with Apple in the U.S., Motorola has been trying to win a few court cases of their own against Apple over in Germany. The two sides have mostly been arguing over some standard-essential patents that Apple needs for the iPhone to work.
Until now, Motorola has refused to license the patents to Apple at a fair price, but a recent court filing shows that Motorola has declared a ceasefire and will now license some, if not all, of their standard-essential patents to Apple.
“[Motorola Mobility] has now confirmed the recent conclusion of a standard-essential patent license agreement with Apple. Under the agreement, Apple is now licensed to use some if not all of Motorola’s standard-essential patents in Germany, though the parties have not yet agreed on a FRAND royalty rate, which will ultimately have to be set by German courts unless they agree on a rate prior to its judicial determination.
This is a very significant development because it means that Motorola Mobility will have to rely on non-standard-essential patents in its efforts to gain leverage over Apple.”
Motorola is owned by Google and has been fighting a proxy war for Google against Apple in the court system. The only thing that Google can do now to hurt Apple with the patents is to push for the highest royalty rate possible.
Motorola can push for the 2.25% rate they’ve been demanding for a while now, but that’s unlikely to happen when the courts determine the rate at the conclusion of the case at the end of August.
Source: FOSS Patents
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