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Intellectual Ventures wages patent war on Motorola

Claims 6 infringements of its property

Intellectual Ventures, the patent holding firm set up by former Microsoft Chief Technical Officer Nathan Myhrvold, has filed suit against Motorola for patent infringement.

According to court documents (PDF), Intellectual Ventures is claiming the violation of six patents it holds. These include patents for a file transfer system between computers, an illumination and projection apparatus on a device, a TCP/IP-to-wireless point to multi-point transmission system, a portable computing device with a detectable handset, an update distribution system, and for software that handles remote content.

“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 chief litigation counsel Melissa Finocchio in a 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 against companies such as Motorola Mobility who use them without a license.”

Intellectual Ventures claims it contacted Motorola in January about the patent issue and, after lengthy negotiations, is taking the matter to court. Last year the company signed a deal with HTC providing patent protection for its handsets, and Intellectual Ventures has been investing heavily in broad smartphone patents.

The company currently holds around 3,000 patents, having spent $400 million buying intellectual property. That investment, and patents the company has applied for itself, have so far yielded around $2 billion in profits. ®

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