Motorola Wins Ruling in Texas Text-Messaging Case (Update2)

By Susan Decker

April 27 (Bloomberg) -- Motorola Inc., the world's second- biggest maker of mobile phones, said it won a federal court ruling that its handsets don't infringe a patent for text messaging owned by the University of Texas.

The university has sued more than 30 handset manufacturers, claiming their products infringe a patent for software used in text messaging and demanding ``hundreds of millions of dollars in damages,'' Motorola said in a statement.

The Schaumburg, Illinois-based company accused the university of engaging in ``ambush litigation tactics.''

``The university waited silently for many years while Motorola and many other companies developed text-entry technology for mobile phones, then claimed millions of dollars in damages only as the patent expired,'' Jonathan P. Meyer, Motorola senior vice president for intellectual property law, said in the statement.

Following the April 9 decision by U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks in Austin, the university conceded that the other companies also didn't infringe the patent. The concession was made to speed up the appeal of the judge's interpretation of the patent, according to court documents filed yesterday.

Among the other companies that were sued in 2005 over a patent that issued in 1987 were Nokia Oyj, the world's biggest mobile-phone maker; Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, the 50-50 venture between Sony Corp. and Ericsson AB; Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.'s Panasonic Corp.; LG Electronics Inc.'s Mobilecomm unit; Benq Corp., Taiwan's biggest mobile-phone maker; and Japan's Kyocera Wireless Corp.

University lawyer Alfonso Chan didn't immediately reply to a message seeking comment. The suit was filed by the Board of Regents of the University of Texas System, which runs nine universities and six health institutes in the state.

Motorola shares fell 33 cents to $17.57 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They have fallen 15 percent this year.

The case is Board of Regents of the University of Texas System v. Benq America Corp., 05cv181, U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas (Austin).

To contact the reporter on this story: Susan Decker in Washington at sdecker1@bloomberg.net .

Last Updated: April 27, 2007 16:38 EDT

		Email this article Printer friendly format