Europe Opens Patent Investigations Into Motorola Mobility

The European Union’s competition office on April 3 opened two antitrust cases against Motorola Mobility for possibly abusing its patents following complaints by two rivals, Microsoft and Apple.

The cases are the latest stage in what has become a full-blown battle over the ownership of essential technologies that help power mobile and gaming devices, a fight that has engulfed Google and virtually all the other major players in the industry. The European Commission opened two cases to look at separate allegations by Microsoft, which is concerned about access to video and wireless patents for its products including the Xbox, and by Apple, which is concerned about access to other wireless patents for the iPhone and iPad. Microsoft and Apple complained to the commission that they were victims of unfair licensing conditions and abusive litigation by Motorola Mobility. The investigation will look at whether “Motorola has failed to honor its irrevocable commitments made to standard-setting organizations” to license its technologies to other companies on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms, the commission said.