Patent assertion entity Rockstar Consortium is suing tech companies Asustek,...

BlackBerry, Ericsson, Microsoft and Sony jointly own, formed in 2011 specifically to manage a portfolio of patents it bought for $4.5 billion from Nortel. Rockstar said Google infringed seven of its Nortel patents through its purchase of Motorola Mobility, which followed its own losing bid for the Nortel patents. Google was aware that some of Motorola Mobility’s technology violated the Nortel patents, and continued to infringe anyway, Rockstar said in court filings. Google declined to comment. Rockstar’s joint complaint with subsidiary MobileStar Technologies claims Samsung violated seven of its patents, including U.S. Patents 6,037,937 (a navigation tool for graphical user interfaces) and 6,128,298 (an Internet Protocol filter). An LG spokesman declined to comment. HTC, Samsung and the other defendants in the Rockstar lawsuits did not comment. Charles Duan, Public Knowledge’s director-Patent Reform Project, said in a statement that the lawsuits showed Rockstar is a “privateer” -- a PAE that companies use to go after their competitors. Though Rockstar acknowledges its owners are all major tech companies, it “operates at arms’ length,” Duan said. “This allows Rockstar’s owners to disclaim its actions while benefiting from them, shields them from counter-suit, and allows Rockstar to disregard any promises by its owners not to engage in this exploitative behavior.” Many of the patents at issue in the suit “appear to be overly broad and of low quality,” he said. “It is likely that its attempt to hobble its owners’ competitors in the courtroom will ultimately fail. But it will be expensive to reach that point, and whatever the outcome of the litigation, consumers will bear the cost.”