Intellectual Ventures sues Motorola Mobility

Late last week Intellectual Ventures accused Motorola Mobility of patent infringement in the U.S. District Court of Delaware.

IV’s public announcement implies negotiations have been ongoing but have broken down.

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.  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. Our goal continues to be to provide companies with access to our portfolio through licensing and sales, but we will not tolerate ongoing infringement of our patents to the detriment of our current customers and our business.

In a Defendants’ Certificate of Interested Entities, filed May 16, 2011, in an unrelated case, IV disclosed Google to be a financial backer (one of many). Google is in the process of acquiring Motorola Mobility.  As Alice would say, it gets “curiouser and curiouser.”