Apple sues Motorola in U.S. over Qualcomm patents

Apple has filed a new lawsuit against Motorola Mobility in an attempt to prevent further litigation. Florian Mueller of FOSS patents reports that the suit, filed in the Southern District of California—close to where Qualcomm is based—claims that Apple, by way of the iPhone 4S’ use of a Qualcomm chip and an existing Motorola-Qualcomm patent licensing agreement, has every right to use Motorola’s patents in the handset. Should that prove true, Motorola may be guilty of breach of contract, which could result in damages awarded to Apple. In any case, a win by Apple is likely to derail any other lawsuits filed by Motorola against Apple over the iPhone 4S, both in the U.S. and internationally.