Report: Apple interested in arbitration in Motorola Mobility case
Things could work out a bit more smoothly in Apple's legal battle with Motorola Mobility, based on some new court filings.
Apple filed a reply on Friday regarding the dismissal of its FRAND case against the mobile device manufacturer at the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Wisconsin.
The key point of Apple's latest filing is that the court should not dismiss Apple's claims (or the case in general) or else arbitration would be off the table completely.
To recall, Judge Barbara B. Crabb canceled the trial on November 5 -- the day it was supposed to start -- following disputes over how the case should move forward. Crabb also dismissed the case "with prejudice" -- something Apple is firmly against.
At that point, it seemed the iPhone maker's only shot at resuscitating this case now was to go for an appeal.
Yet the Cupertino, Calif.-based corporation now seems steadfast in its hopes of at least arbitrating this case -- a move in which, as Bloomberg reports, "could lead to a global settlement of all of their patent disputes."
Here's a snippet from Apple's argument for arbitration and preventing the case from being dismissed with prejudice:
Finally, the Court should dismiss Apple’s claims without prejudice because the parties are now actively engaged in negotiating the terms of a binding arbitration to resolve their disputes with respect to a license to each other’s standards-essential patents. After Motorola offered to enter into binding arbitration at the November 5 hearing in this matter, the parties exchanged correspondence expressing their desire to arbitrate these matters, and are now negotiating the parameters of such an arbitration. See Exs. 1 and 2. Because a dismissal with prejudice may interfere with Apple’s ability to adjudicate its claims in arbitration proceedings, Apple asks that the Court not dismiss the case with prejudice.
For reference, Apple sued Motorola Mobility in March 2011 after the now Google-owned subsidiary demanded 2.25 percent of all net sales on iOS products that incorporated select industry-standard patents. Apple thought Motorola's demands were excessive.
To read through Apple's entire filing, scroll through the document below: