Motorola asks US to block BlackBerry sales

Motorola, the US-based electronics and mobile phone group, accused Research in Motion, the Canadian manufacturer of the BlackBerry family of smartphones, of patent infringement and unfair trade practices in a complaint filed on Friday.

The Schaumburg, Illinois-based company called on the US International Trade Commission to launch an investigation of RIM and to block the sales in the US of devices “infringe on five of Motorola’s patents”.

Motorola’s complaint escalates a patent battle between the two companies that has its origins in a cross-licensing agreement between them which expired in 2003. The two companies have not been able to negotiate a renewal of the agreement and filed patent infringement lawsuits against each other in the US in early 2008.

The five patents listed in Motorola’s complaint relate to certain early-stage innovations developed by Motorola in key technology areas, such as Wi-Fi access, application management, user interface and power management.

“These patented technologies are important to Motorola as they allow for more comprehensive connectivity, a better user experience and lower product costs,” Motorola said in its complaint.

Motorola asked the Washington based ITC to issue an exclusion order that would ban the import of BlackBerry products found to infringe its patents, prohibit further sales of infringing products that have already been imported, and stop RIM from marketing and advertising these product in the US.

“Through its early-stage development of the cellular industry and billions of dollars spent on research and development, Motorola has created an industry-leading intellectual property portfolio that is respected by the entire telecommunications industry,” said Jonathan Meyer, senior vice president of intellectual property law at Motorola.

“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 had no choice but to file a complaint with the ITC to halt RIM’s continued infringement,” he added. “Motorola will continue to take all necessary steps to protect its R&D and intellectual property, which are critical to the company’s business.”

There was no immediate comment from RIM.