Apple: Motorola Isn’t Worth What It Thinks

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has told a Wisconsin court it is willing to pay Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) unit Motorola for rights to use technology from its standards-essential patents, but that it was only worth $1 or less per iPhone. The two are slated to appear before the Western District Court of Wisconsin next week to discuss the issue.

According to FOSS Patents, this is the first time Apple has even agreed to consider licensing the patents from Motorola. However, Apple hinted that if the court were to set a royalty rate higher than $1 per iPhone, it would appeal the decision. The rate Apple is willing to pay is significantly lower than the 2.25 percent of the iPhone maker’s sales that Motorola is seeking in the case.

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“Motorola cannot offer evidence at this trial that the rate should be higher than $1 per phone, but to the extent the Court sets the rate higher than $1 per unit, Apple reserves the right to exhaust all appeals and needs also to reserve the right available to any party offered a license: the right to refuse and proceed to further infringement litigation,” the Apple filing reads. “Make no mistake, that is not an outcome Apple desires. The parties have spent an exhausting two years litigating against each other around the world.”

At the trial, Apple will try to use expert testimony and “copious real-world evidence — including Motorola’s contemporaneous licenses — that establishes a ceiling for the FRAND rate Motorola could charge Apple for Motorola’s worldwide portfolio.”

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