Intellectual Ventures (IV) is all set to come for a face off against Google’s Motorola Mobility in a patent battle, after levelling patent infringement charges against the company.
Privately-held Intellectual Ventures filed a lawsuit against Google’s mobile unit in 2011 for its alleged infringement of patents covering a range of smartphone technologies, including Google Play.
However, Motorola rejected the claims and has decided to go to trial over three of such patents.
The trial is set to start in the midst of an ongoing debate in Congress over patent reforms and it will be first ever trial by IV since was founded.
The search major has reportedly supported efforts to curb software patents in a bid to facilitate fighting lawsuits, while IV has cautioned that Congress should not act too rashly to weaken rights of the patent owner, Reuters reported.
Intellectual Ventures and other patent aggregators have been criticised by some in the technology industry, arguing that patent proceedings and royalty payments have turned out to be a tax burden on innovation.
In addition, IV, which does not primarily develop products, is alleged of exploiting the patent system.
Since its establishment in 2000, IV raised about $6bn and acquired tens of thousands of intellectual property assets from several sources.
