Motorola files ITC complaint against RIM

Motorola has filed a complaint against RIM with the U.S. International Trade Commission over a patent dispute. The company claims that RIM is selling products that infringe on 5 of it’s patents related to Wi-Fi access, power management and user interfaces. It wants the ITC to block RIM from importing, marketing and selling its BlackBerry smartphones that use those technologies. They say RIM has refused to cooperate with them.

“In light of RIM’s continued unlicensed use of Motorola’s patents RIM’s use of delay tactics in our current patent litigation, and RIM’s refusal to design out Motorola’s proprietary technology, Motorola has no choice but to file a complaint with the ITC to halt RIM’s continued infringement,” Jonathan Meyer, Motorola’s vice president of intellectual property law, said in a statement.

The two companies have been feuding since 2008. RIM claims Motorola is infringing on 9 of their patents and that it charges unreasonable fees to license its patents. Hopefully the ITC can make the children…I mean companies…place nice. If RIM were to be blocked from importing and selling its wildly popular BlackBerrys, it could be a severe blow to their bottom line.

So far RIM has refused to comment on the issue. It’s also dealing with a lawsuit from Kodak over a patent issue involving image previews.

Read [PCWorld]