The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) is busy with the wireless industry these days. The agency has agreed to investigate a complaint filed by Apple in mid-January that alleges Nokia infringed on patents related to devices’ cameras, antennas, user interface and power management systems.
Nokia filed a similar complaint with the ITC against Apple in December that claimed Apple’s iPhone and iPods were in violation of its patent rights. Both companies have already filed lawsuits against each other over the issue.
The news that the ITC would investigate Apple’s complaint against Nokia came on the heels of the commission’s decision to look into a separate complaint about mobile patent infringement.
On Wednesday, Feb. 17, the ITC said it would investigate Kodak’s claims that the iPhone and Research In Motion’s (RIM) BlackBerry violated patents related to photo-viewing technology.
The complaints filed against Nokia, Apple and RIM all request that the commission issue a cease and desist order stopping the shipment of the devices. The commission will set a target date for finishing its investigation within 45 days, but patent cases can last for years so device sales are not under immediate threat.
This is not the first time Kodak has gone to the commission over its image patents. The camera company won a dispute with Samsung in December when an ITC judge ruled in favor of Kodak, which claimed that Samsung had infringed on its patent for color image previewing.
Kodak also filed two lawsuits against Apple over patents that allege Apple violated patents covering image previewing technology, image processing, and “ask for help” functionalities. Kodak won a patent fight with Sun Microsystems over the “help” patents in 2004.
Filed Under: Industry regulations
