Motorola Settles Patent Fight with Tessera
ITC exclusion orders and cease and desist letters have teeth. Faced with an uncertain economic outlook, an unfavorable ITC decision, and unclear appeal prospects, Motorola signed a license with Tessera settling all outstanding litigation. Under the worldwide licensing agreement, Motorola will pay Tessera royalties on shipments into the U.S. of certain electronic products incorporating semiconductor chips that use Tessera's technology. In a statement Wednesday, Motorola called the licensing deal a "prudent business action" allowing the company to continue to meet its customers' needs.
With the addition of two administrative law judges in the last 2 years (Carl. C. Charneski in April ’07 and Robert K. Rogers in July ’08 - bringing the total to five administrative law judges), the ITC is an attractive option for US patentees seeking to protect their IP in the post-eBay world. For patentees finding injunctions difficult to obtain, an ITC exclusion order almost as effective.
As this case illustrates, ITC exclusion orders and cease and desist letters put an inordinate amount of pressure on respondents to settle, or risk being unable to import infringing goods into the US. In today's distributed world, preventing the importing of infringing products can be almost as good as a injunction.
