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IPhone found to infringe patents without easy workarounds

A jury last week found that Apple?s iPhone infringes three patents owned by MobileMedia Ideas covering camera phones and how incoming calls are handled.

While the patents in questions are relatively minor, they are not easily worked around. As a result, Apple may end up paying a licensing fee to continue to use the technology, which will take a bite out of its significant profits from iPhone sales.

?It won?t be easy for Apple to work around these patents,? said Philip Solis, research director of mobile devices at ABI Research, Oyster Bay, NY.

?They are going to have to settle or the case will go on and damages will be determined,? he said.

?If Apple has to pay licensing fees, it will eat into its profitability a tiny big but Apple?s profits are huge.?

Patent pursuits
The patents in questions cover embedded cameras in a portable phone, the ability to reject an incoming call and send it to voice mail as well as the ability to choose from different options for how to handle a call.

MobileMedia Ideas said in a statement that its objective is to make its patents widely available and that it is interested in entering into licensing deals with Apple and others for the technology.

While this particular suit from MobileMedia Ideas relates to relatively minor aspects of a mobile phone, the company is likely to use the Apple case as a landmark case to help it make licensing arrangements with other manufacturers without having to go to court, per Mr. Solis.

MobileMedia Ideas, which is owned by MPEG LA, Nokia and Sony, currently has patent infringement cases pending against RIM and HTC.

Feeling litigious
The case is the latest example of the increasingly litigious nature of the mobile industry, with a variety of different mobile-related companies suing one another and claiming patent infringement. The list includes a long-running battle between Apple and Samsung.

The sheer number of suits points to the fact that these companies expect significant continued growth in mobile and view legal suits as a way to potentially gain the upper hand over competition.

Apple has itself been aggressive on the legal front, pursuing patent infringement allegations against HTC, Samsung and other Android device manufacturers for several years. However, the company recently reached a licensing agreement with HTC, bringing a two-year patent dispute to an end and suggesting Apple may be softening its legal stance against Android (see story). 

Apple has also reportedly not instigated any new intellectual property law suits since Tim Cook became CEO of Apple following the death of Steve Jobs.

?Smartphones have a lot of different technologies in them,? Mr. Solis said. ?The trials that are more of a big deal involve key aspects of design and wireless capabilities.

?Apple is very strong overall in patents related to newer types of smartphones,? he said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York