Apple successfully defends itself against Motorola in latest patent case

Apple successfully defended itself against a Motorola lawsuit over an accidental hang-up sensor on its iPhone line. Bloomberg reported this evening that U.S. International Trade Commission judge Thomas Pender ruled in Apple’s favor, as he has before, declaring Motorola’s patent invalid. The ITC’s commission still has the power to review the ruling, but that hasn’t stopped Motorola from releasing an official statement on the matter.

Jennifer Erickson, a Motorola Mobility spokesperson, told Bloomberg in a statement: “We’re disappointed with this outcome and are evaluating our options.” Motorola is a part of Mountain View-based Google, which was acquired last August for $12.5 billion in a patent defense move.

Motorola’s collective lawsuit was filed in August with a claim that Apple violated seven patents with its iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and iOS products, and even Macs. The suit was filed during the same time Apple worked to defeat Samsung in a historic patent case that played out during the better part of August. Samsung was ultimately ruled to pay damages of more than $1 billion.