Firms trade lawsuits over phone patents

Motorola Inc and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd sued one another over mobile-phone patents, each claiming their competitor is using handset technology without permission.

Motorola, the biggest US maker of mobile phones, asked a US judge in Marshall, Texas, on Feb 16 to order Research In Motion to stop the infringement. That company filed its own suit in federal court in Dallas the same day over similar claims, Research In Motion spokeswoman Tenille Kennedy said.

Winning the dispute would help the victor bolster its rank in the market for "smart phones" that can send e-mail, whose sales are growing almost six times as fast as that of the overall industry. Research In Motion has won consumers with models such as the Pearl, which plays music and has a camera. Motorola's counterpoint is the Q model, which has a full keyboard.

Research In Motion has more than 8 million subscribers in North America for its BlackBerry e-mail device. Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc and other phone companies pay the company a fee of about $6 a month for each subscriber that uses BlackBerry e-mail. The Motorola suit targets the 8100, 8130, 8320, 8800, 8820 and 8830 models, as well as BlackBerry Exchange Server software.

Research In Motion "willfully" infringed the patents, causing "irreparable harm", Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola said in its complaint. Motorola also is seeking cash compensation for past infringement of the inventions, according to the complaint.

The technology Motorola is suing over includes a method of storing contact information in wireless e-mails and a way of recognizing incoming phone numbers, court papers show.

Research In Motion's lawsuit claims Motorola infringed its patents, including one for a device "with a keyboard optimized for use with the thumbs", according to court papers provided by the company. It also accused Motorola of anticompetitive behavior by demanding "exorbitant royalties" for its patents.

Motorola regards its intellectual property as "critical" to its business and believes Research In Motion's suit is "entirely out of merit", a spokeswoman said. No one at Research In Motion was available to comment beyond the complaint.