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Motorola sued by Intellectual Ventures over patents

Patent-acquisition firm says it is suing handset maker for violating its patents after the pair were unable to reach an agreement.
Written by Jamie Yap, Contributor

Intellectual Ventures, a patent acquisition firm, has filed a lawsuit against handset maker Motorola Mobility on grounds of patent infringement.

The suit was filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court in Delaware, Dow Jones reported Friday. The move comes as Google is proceeding with its US$12.5 billion acquisition of the mobile handset maker, primarily for its intellect property portfolio, the news agency noted.

It said in its complaint that it first approached Motorola Mobility about licensing its inventions in January, about eight months before Google-Motorola deal was announced in August, according to the report.

"Intellectual Ventures has successfully signed licensing agreements with many of the top handset manufacturers in the world, and has been in discussions with Motorola Mobility for some time," said its chief litigation counsel Melissa Finocchio in a company statement.

"Unfortunately, we have been unable to reach agreement on a license...We have a responsibility to our current customers and our investors to defend our intellectual property rights," she wrote.

Intellectual Ventures, founded in 2000 by former Microsoft executive Nathan Myhrvold, does not make products of its own, and has so far raised over US$5 billion and amassed a portfolio of more than 35,000 patents, said Dow Jones.

Spokespersons for both Motorola Mobility and Google did not comment for the report, it added.

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