Apple, Inc. v. Motorola Mobility, Inc.

• Decision Date: 10 August 2012
• Docket Number: No. 11–cv–178–bbc.,11–cv–178–bbc.
• Citation: 886 F.Supp.2d 1061
• Parties: APPLE, INC., Plaintiff, v. MOTOROLA MOBILITY, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Wisconsin

886 F.Supp.2d 1061

APPLE, INC., Plaintiff,

v.MOTOROLA MOBILITY, INC., Defendant.

No. 11–cv–178–bbc.

United States District Court, W.D. Wisconsin.

Aug. 10, 2012.

Robert T. Haslam, Charlin Lu, Covington & Burling LLP, Azra M. Hadzimehmedovic, Matthew D. Powers, Steven S. Cherensky, Tensegrity Law Group, LLP, Redwood Shores, CA, Carrie Anderson, Weil Gotshal & Manges, New York, NY, Catherine Cetrangolo, Cetra Law Firm, LLC, Madison, WI, Christine Saunders Haskett, Cortlin Hall Lannin, Danielle Luce Goldstein, Krzysztof Bebenek, Nathan Evans Shafroth, Robert D. Fram, Samuel F. Ernst, Winslow B. Taub, Covington & Burling LLP, San Francisco, CA, Deborah Ann Garza, Jason Raofield, Richard Anthony Lopez, Covington & Burling, LLP, Mark G. Davis, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff.

Alexander Rudis, Carlos A. Rodriguez, Edward John Defranco, Kathleen Marie Sullivan, Richard W. Erwine, David M. Elihu, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, New York, NY, Brian C. Cannon, Kevin Johnson, Meghan Bordonaro, Melissa N. Chan, Robert William Stone, Thomas R. Watson, Shawna Marie Reeder, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, Redwood Shores, CA, David A. Nelson, Jennifer A. Bauer, Amanda Scott Williamson, Stephen Andrew Swedlow, Thomas William Cushing, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, Chicago, IL, David L. Shaul, Linda J. Brewer, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, San Francisco, CA, Lisa Nester Kass, Rebecca Frihart–Kennedy, Scott W. Hansen, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren, S.C., Milwaukee, WI, Lynn Marie Stathas, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren S.C., Madison, WI, for Defendant.

OPINION and ORDER

BARBARA B. CRABB, District Judge.

This case originated in the International Trade Commission, where defendant Motorola Mobility, Inc. filed an infringement action against plaintiff Apple, Inc., seeking an exclusion order that would have prevented Apple from selling its allegedly infringing products in the United States. After the case had been pending for a few months in the Commission, Apple filed several counterclaims against Motorola and removed the counterclaims to this court under 19 U.S.C. § 1337(c). In its counterclaims, Apple alleges that Motorola has engaged in a pattern of unfair, deceptive and anticompetitive conduct by failing to timely disclose ownership of patents that it now declares are essential to technological standards adopted by the industry and by failing to offer Apple licenses to those patents on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms.

Now before the court are the parties' cross motions for summary judgment. Motorola has moved for summary judgment on all of Apple's claims on a variety of grounds. Dkt. # 150. Motorola contends that Apple's claims are barred by the doctrine of claim preclusion because Apple could have pursued them as defenses in the International Trade Commission. Motorola also contends that Apple's antitrust claims are barred by the applicable statute of limitations and by the Noerr–Pennington doctrine, which provides immunity from antitrust claims that are filed in response to nonfrivolous lawsuits. Finally, Motorola contends that Apple cannot prove the necessary elements of its tortious interference claim or its claims of unfair competition under California law and cannot prove that it suffered any damages compensable as contractual damages.

Apple has moved for partial summary judgment on specific issues relevant to its claims. Dkt. # 143. In particular, Apple seeks determinations from the court that (1) Motorola's commitments to standards-setting organizations are contractually binding; (2) Apple has the right to enforce those contracts as a third-party beneficiary; (3) Motorola was required under the policies of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to disclose its patents and patent applications before ETSI adopted technical standards incorporating technology covered by the patents or applications; and (4) Motorola did not disclose certain patents or applications until after ETSI adopted the standards incorporating technology from those patents.

After reviewing the parties' arguments and the facts in the record, I conclude that Motorola's motion must be granted in part and denied in part, and Apple's motion must be granted in full. With respect to Motorola's motion, I conclude that Apple's claims are not barred by the doctrine of claim preclusion, but that the Noerr–Pennington doctrine provides Motorola immunity from Apple's antitrust and unfair competition claims premised on Motorola's patent infringement litigation and from Apple's claims for declaratory judgment, to the extent that those claims are premised on a theory of antitrust or unfair competition. Because I conclude that Noerr–Pennington immunity applies, I need not consider Motorola's statute of limitations argument.

Additionally, I conclude that Motorola is entitled to summary judgment on Apple's claim that Motorola tortiously interfered with its contract with Qualcomm, as well as Apple's claim under Cal. Bus. & Prof.Code § 17200 based on the same theory, because Apple has failed to adduce any evidence showing that it suffered damages from Motorola's actions.

However, I conclude that Motorola has failed to show that Apple's breach of contract or estoppel claims should be dismissed for Apple's failure to prove that it suffered any compensable damages. Therefore, I will deny Motorola's motion as to that issue.

With respect to Apple's motion, I conclude that Motorola has failed to show that there is any genuine dispute of material fact regarding the existence of contracts between Motorola and standards-setting organizations; Apple's status as a third-party beneficiary of those contracts; Motorola's obligations to disclose its intellectual property rights in a timely manner; and Motorola's failure to disclose its patents and applications before the adoption of standards incorporating its patents. Therefore, I am granting Apple's motion for summary judgment in full.

From the parties' proposed findings of fact and the record, I find the following facts to be material and undisputed.

UNDISPUTED FACTS

A. Wireless Communication Industry

Plaintiff Apple, Inc. and defendant Motorola Mobility, Inc. are competitors in the wireless communication industry. Motorola has been a player in the industry for longer than Apple and, since at least 1990, has been a member of numerous international standards-setting organizations devoted to the development of telecommunications and wireless standards. Through the standards-setting organizations, companies agree on common technological standards so that all compliant products will work together. Standards lower costs by increasing product manufacturing volume and increase price competition by eliminating the costs for consumers to switch between products manufactured by different firms.

Some technological standards incorporate patented technology. If a patent claims technology selected by a standards-setting organization, the patent is called an “essential patent.” Many standards-setting organizations have adopted rules related to the disclosure and licensing of essential patents. The policies often require or encourage members of the organization to identify patents that are essential to a proposed standard and to agree to license their essential patents on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms to anyone who requests a license. (These terms are often referred to by the acronyms FRAND or RAND.) Such rules help to insure that standards do not allow the owners of essential patents to abuse their market power to extort competitors or prevent them from entering the marketplace.

Two standards-setting organizations are relevant to the motions before the court: The European Telecommunications Standards Institute, known as ETSI; and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, known as IEEE. At all relevant times, Motorola has been a member of these standards-setting organizations and has participated in developing technological standards for the wireless communication industry. Both organizations have intellectual property rights policies that address disclosure and licensing of patents that are essential to standards being considered or being adopted by the organizations. Additionally, Motorola has participated in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project, known as the 3G Project, which requires its members to abide by the intellectual property rights policies of ETSI and other standards-setting organizations.

1. European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)

ETSI is a standards-setting organization located in France that creates technological standards for the telecommunications industry. It has an intellectual property rights policy set forth in Annex 6 of its Rules of Procedure to govern the disclosure of intellectual property rights that are essential to standards being considered by ETSI. Dkt. # 148–22. The policy defines “intellectual property right” as “any intellectual property right conferred by statute law including applications therefor ... [but not] rights relating to ... confidential information, trade secrets or the like.” Id. § 15–7. Since 1997, ETSI's policy has required members to disclose intellectual property that may be essential to standards. With minor variations, it has stated:

[E]ach MEMBER shall use its reasonable endeavours, in particular during the development of a STANDARD or TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION where it participates, to inform ETSI of ESSENTIAL [intellectual property rights] in a timely fashion. In particular, a MEMBER submitting a technical proposal for a STANDARD or TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION shall, on a bona fide basis, draw the attention of ETSI to any of that MEMBER's [intellectual property rights] which might be ESSENTIAL if that proposal is adopted.

Id. § 4.1. The policy does not define “reasonable endeavours” or “bona fide basis.” However, it is generally understood that members of ETSI...