Apple Wins Google in Patent Battle

Apple have successfully proven to the US Trade Agency that it has not infringed Google's intellectual property. The case was reportedly centred on a claim which stated that the Tech Giants should have licensed a feature that completely ignores touches when the iPhone is held close to the users' heads. It was definitely a very close shave, partly because Apple could have been facing an import ban, on its iPhones, in the US. If that would have happened then Apple would have lost a very large amount of their earnings; bearing in mind that the US is their second biggest market. Google acquired the contested patent as part of its £8.2bn ($12.5bn) takeover of Motorola Mobility.

In October 2010, ten months before Google revealed it was buying the Motorola division, Motorola accused Apple of six infringements of its inventions. Since then, the US's International Trade Commission has ruled three of the complaints were illegitimate and Motorola willingly dropped another two. The division pursued, but only briefly, a further seven claims against the Tech Giants in a separate complaint filed with the ITC in August 2012. However, the case was dropped by the Google-owned division, two months later, without an explanation. The ITC dismissed the final outstanding claim on Tuesday. This was after accepting Apple's argument that the sensor technology used to touch-protect its phones was obvious, bearing in mind other earlier efforts by tech firms to tackle the problem of accidental dialling. The latest ruling brings an end to Apple's legal battles at the ITC, but Google still has the right to challenge the agency's judgement. "We're disappointed with this outcome and are evaluating our options," said a spokesman for the Android software developer. It was clear that everyone was disappointed with the outcome, except for Apple of course, as Google were probably looking to bag some cash.

Apple has pursued claims against Samsung, HTC and other Android-device makers since completing the deal. Google has pursued cases against Apple and Microsoft in the European and US courts. Google's most notable success was forcing Apple to suspend its push email service in Germany. But when it subsequently attempted to challenge Microsoft's use of the same message-synchronisation technology, a UK judge ruled the patent at the heart of the case was invalid. Apple has been involved in many patent battles recently, this one won't be the last, but we can all be sure that the company will keep winning and it won't disappoint.