Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is attempting to bring back a suit it filed against Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc (NYSE:MMI) division in connection with a patent for touch-screen technology. A judge has dismissed lawsuits between the companies before, like the one dismissed in November and another suit between Apple and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI) division, which was dismissed last June.
Bloomberg reports that the current suit deals with the patents which Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s lawyer said “drove the iPhone phenomenon.” The patents in question are about a sensor that enables multiple touches on the same screen but in different locations, as used to work a mobile phone via touch. The tech giant is now appealing a decision made by the U.S. International Trade Commission.
The agency had decided that one of the patents in question was invalid and that Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc (NYSE:MMI) hadn’t infringed upon the other. It said one of the patents was very similar to a patent issued in 2008 to Sony Corporation (NYSE:SNE) (TYO:6758).
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) said when the original iPhone was launched, consumers marveled at the touch screen and Time magazine named it the “Invention of the Year.” Now Apple claims that when other companies like Motorola Mobility failed to figure out how to create a touch screen, they simply copied the iPhone touch screen.
Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc (NYSE:MMI) however, said that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is incorrect in saying that it had to invent all of the components for the iPhone and other devices. In the court filing, the company said the devices’ major hardware components were already in existence before Apple came into the mobile market.
