Apparent settlement closes the book on one of a handful of suits filed against Android device makers by the alliance, which is jointly owned by Apple, Microsoft, BlackBerry, Ericsson, and Sony. January 22, 2014 10:45 PM PST (Credit: CBS) Rockstar Consortium, an alliance jointly owned by Apple, Microsoft, BlackBerry, Ericsson, and Sony, has dropped a patent infringement claim it brought against Chinese telecom gear maker Huawei. In a motion filed Tuesday with the US District Court of Northern California, both parties jointly requested dismissal of the lawsuit, which accused the telecom gear maker of violating patents acquired from Nortel Networks. The filing did not specify that a settlement had been reached, and CNET has contacted Huawei for more information. The consortium filed a barrage of lawsuits last October, accusing Huawei, Google, and a handful of other Android device makers of infringing on a host of patents the alliance acquired from Nortel Networks. The dispute dates back to June 2011 when the companies engaged in a tit-for-tat competition to purchase the bankrupt Canadian telecom equipment maker's 6,000-patent portfolio, which encompassed technologies such as wireless, wireless 4G, data networking, optical, voice, Internet, and semiconductors. Related stories Judge pares down Samsung patent claim against Apple Apple insists on anti-cloning provision in Samsung settlement IBM defends US patent crown in 2013 Google tried to buy the Nortel patents for as much as $4.4 billion, but the Web giant eventually lost out in an auction to the Rockstar Consortium, which bought the patent bundle for $4.5 billion. When Google was unable to get in on the Nortel patent portfolio, it instead bought Motorola Mobility and its numerous patents for $12.5 billion in February 2012. The consortium's lawsuit against Google accuses the Web giant of infringing on seven patents that cover technology that pairs Internet search terms with related advertising. Google filed a counterclaim last month that accused the alliance of placing "a cloud on Google's Android platform; threatened Google's business and relationships with its customers and partners, as well as its sales of Nexus-branded Android devices." The need for companies to have a so-called "war chest" of patents has become an increasingly important part of doing business. Mobile devices in particular have become the latest target of patent litigation, due to their combination of features that may have previously only been available in standalone electronics. [Via Foss Patents]
Apparent settlement closes the book on one of a handful of suits filed against Android device makers by the alliance, which is jointly owned by Apple, Microsoft, BlackBerry, Ericsson, and Sony.
(Credit: CBS)
Rockstar Consortium, an alliance jointly owned by Apple, Microsoft, BlackBerry, Ericsson, and Sony, has dropped a patent infringement claim it brought against Chinese telecom gear maker Huawei.
In a motion filed Tuesday with the US District Court of Northern California, both parties jointly requested dismissal of the lawsuit, which accused the telecom gear maker of violating patents acquired from Nortel Networks. The filing did not specify that a settlement had been reached, and CNET has contacted Huawei for more information.
The consortium filed a barrage of lawsuits last October, accusing Huawei, Google, and a handful of other Android device makers of infringing on a host of patents the alliance acquired from Nortel Networks. The dispute dates back to June 2011 when the companies engaged in a tit-for-tat competition to purchase the bankrupt Canadian telecom equipment maker's 6,000-patent portfolio, which encompassed technologies such as wireless, wireless 4G, data networking, optical, voice, Internet, and semiconductors.
Related stories
- Judge pares down Samsung patent claim against Apple
- Apple insists on anti-cloning provision in Samsung settlement
- IBM defends US patent crown in 2013
Google tried to buy the Nortel patents for as much as $4.4 billion, but the Web giant eventually lost out in an auction to the Rockstar Consortium, which bought the patent bundle for $4.5 billion. When Google was unable to get in on the Nortel patent portfolio, it instead bought Motorola Mobility and its numerous patents for $12.5 billion in February 2012.
The consortium's lawsuit against Google accuses the Web giant of infringing on seven patents that cover technology that pairs Internet search terms with related advertising. Google filed a counterclaim last month that accused the alliance of placing "a cloud on Google's Android platform; threatened Google's business and relationships with its customers and partners, as well as its sales of Nexus-branded Android devices."
The need for companies to have a so-called "war chest" of patents has become an increasingly important part of doing business. Mobile devices in particular have become the latest target of patent litigation, due to their combination of features that may have previously only been available in standalone electronics.
[Via Foss Patents]
