Motorola sues Apple for patent infringement

CALIFORNIA, USA: Motorola Mobility, which is seeking regulatory approval to be bought by Google Inc, has filed a new lawsuit against Apple Inc accusing the iPhone maker of infringing its technology patents.

The case filed in a Florida federal court on Wednesday is the latest turn in a bigger legal battle between Apple and Motorola Mobility, which runs its phones on Google's Android software - the biggest rival of Apple's iOS mobile phone system.

Motorola said in the lawsuit that it was suing Apple for infringing six of its patents in products including its latest smartphone, the iPhone 4S. A spokesperson for Apple was not immediately available for comment.

The patents in question involve technologies related to wireless antennae, software, data filtering and messaging, according to the lawsuit.

The filing follows a preliminary decision issued earlier this month by the U.S. International Trade Commission that Motorola did not violate Apple patents in another case Apple brought against Motorola.

In December, Motorola won a preliminary injunction against Apple in Germany, which could bar the sale of iPhones and iPad tablets in that country. Google agreed to buy Motorola for $12.5 billion in August in an effort to gain control of the mobile phone maker's deep portfolio of patents.

The case is Motorola Mobility Inc vs Apple Inc, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida Case No.