Apple Loses Another Patent Ruling to Motorola

Apple's latest attempt at suing Motorola for infringing three of its patents has backfired, as the U.S. court has ruled in favor of the latter.

The Administrative Law Judge in the US International Trade Commission (ITC) has ascertained that Apple's allegations are false as it found no violation with any of the three company's patents filed in the lawsuit.

Even though the decision is not yet verified by the ITC, it is very unlikely that the court's ruling will be reversed. However, Apple is at liberty to appeal against the preliminary ruling, as the final judgment to the case is due in May.

"We are pleased with today's favourable outcome for Motorola Mobility," stated Scott Offer, senior vice-president and general counsel of Motorola Mobility. He further added, "Motorola Mobility has worked hard over the years to develop technology and build an industry-leading intellectual property portfolio."

In the aftermath of the reported suicide cases and unethical practices amongst its suppliers, including Foxconn, Apple has hired an independent outsider group to verify the incident.

Although the company had maintained confidentiality of its supply chain information, it has now revealed the supplier responsibility report to the public. The report suggests that the company conducted 229 audits at various supplier factories over the last year and ascertained that employees at 93 factories had surpassed their weekly waging hour limits, besides there had been payment violations at 108 facilities and five factories with underage workers.

Apple further added that it was trying to resolve the matter in close association with the suppliers.