Motorola and Apple each file for summary judgment in Wisconsin FRAND case

Motorola and Apple are squaring off in a courtroom in Wisconsin in a case dealing with FRAND-pledged patents. Under the FRAND rules (which stands for Fair, Reasonable And Non-Discriminatory), the holder of a patent publicizes the terms under which a license for the patent will be issued. Both sides on Friday filed with the court for a summary judgment. If the motion is granted, most of Apple's claims would disappear. On the other hand, Apple asked the court for partial summary judgments which would allow the court to rule on some of Apple's claims "as a point of law".

Judge Barbara B. Crabb has set up a schedule with opposition briefs due on May 30th, 2012. Until June 11th, both sides will get to reply in support of each side's motions. That culminates in a summary judgment hearing and a ruling on the motions. The question is whether Judge Crabb will be able to make a ruling in time to have an effect on another Motorola-Apple battle in Chicago. The Chicago case is much larger than the one in Wisconsin and deals with 15 Apple and 6 Motorola patents. Much of the information about the summary judgment motions have been sealed.

Motorola's summary judgment filing deals with a number of Apple's claims that it wants the court to eliminate with one bang of the judicial gavel. For example, Motorola wants the court to eliminate Apple's request for a number of Declaratory Judgments ranging from one stating that Motorola's patents were not offered on FRAND terms to one that says that Motorola committed patent misuse. Apple's motion for partial summary judgment says that the Cupertino based firm, "moves for partial summary judgment to establish elements of its breach of contract, antitrust, unfair competition, and patent misuse claims," which seems to be some of the exact same claims that Motorola is trying to get a ruling on in its favor with its summary judgment motion.

source: FOSSPatents