Apple has pleaded a US appeals court to revive patent-infringement case filed against Google’s Motorola Mobility unit over touch-screen technology used in its mobile phones.
According to Bloomberg, Apple lawyer, Joshua Rosenkranz, said the patent is Apple’s first touch-screen technology.
Rosenkranz said that the patent was for "a key invention and it drove the iPhone phenomenon and later the iPad. It claims something that no one had ever done."
The iPhone maker is appealing the US International Trade Commission’s (ITC) earlier decision over transparent screens that can sense multiple touches in several locations and allow users to operate a mobile phone by tapping or swiping the screen.
The US ITC ruled that one of the related patents was invalid and Motorola had not infringed on the second patent.
Apple argued that Motorola had earlier tried to develop a similar technology but has failed to come up with a useful touch screen.
However, ITC’s lawyer, Megan Valentine defended the agency’s decision and said that Apple’s multitouch invention was very similar to earlier technology, including a patent issued in 2008.
"The algorithms are nearly identical in the two patents," Valentine said. "There are so many features of the iPhone. Taking this one feature out without a showing of a tie is not sufficient."
Motorola Mobility lawyer, David Nelson, said the two patents "describe that same sensing device."
Additionally, Nelson has urged the court to support the finding of non- infringement, saying the judge’s interpretation of that patent was right.
