Apple has won a strategically important modification to a recent dismissal of a FRAND contract lawsuit in the Western District of Wisconsin. As per an order entered late on Wednesday, the district court's final ruling, which was originally stated in a minute order as a dismissal with prejudice, has been modified so as to be a dismissal without prejudice as far as the claims Apple wanted to take to trial are concerned. This was key to enable Apple to preserve its FRAND defenses against Google's (Motorola Mobility's) ongoing or future infringement actions over standard-essential patents (SEPs).Keeping the full range of its FRAND defenses alive against Google's Motorola Mobility even though its FRAND contract claims and estoppel theories temporarily (based on the aforementioned minute order) appeared to have been dismissed with prejudice, is a noteworthy success for Apple's outside counsel from three firms (Covington & Burling, Tensegrity Law Group, and Wisconsin-based CETRA)...
