Apple’s global campaign to stop its Korean rival from selling smartphones and tablets has faltered in recent months, but the iPhone-maker appears undeterred. Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is using two new patents for touchscreen technology, obtained in December, as the basis for yet another lawsuit.

Google’s bid for Motorola (NYSE: MMI) is likely to get a thumbs up from the U.S. Department of Justice, but still could face opposition from other regulators both in the U.S. and in Europe. The landmark $12.5 billion deal is essential for Google’s attempts to play defense in the mobile…

All is indeed fair in love and war, but not everything is fair in patent licensing. Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) are working on measures to level the playing field in the mobile patent disputes by clarifying what is “fair” when it comes to patent licensing terms.

A Texas shell company, Smart Audio Technologies, has filed a suit claiming Apple’s iPod Nano and other devices violate its patent for random song playlists.

Scientific journals are threatening to sue inventors and law firms over the academic studies that are part of a typical patent application. Now, in an unusual memo, the US Patent Office has suggested that inventors can disregard the warning.

For the most part, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has found the mobile industry willing to bow to its patent-licensing strategy. Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) decided to dig in and fight and it could be poised to score a point.

Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) in the last 24 hours has been dealt not one but two blows in court cases involving Motorola (NYSE: MMI) and patents in Germany, one involving IP licensing on older iPhone models (not the 4S) and one involving iCloud. However, as the day progressed, an injunction on…

Some fallout from the various asset offloads we have seen from Nokia (NYSE: NOK) in the last year: Synchronica, which bought Nokia’s messaging business for $25 million in June 2011, has itself become a takeover target—apparently because it will not be able to make payments on money still owed to…

The ongoing, back-and-forth legal fight that is the Apple/Samsung patent dispute today took on a new dimension in one of its key battlegrounds, when the European Commission launched an antitrust inquiry into Samsung’s technology licensing practices.

The smartphone patent wars may never end. Motorola (NYSE: MMI) fired a round Wednesday with a new lawsuit against Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), declaring that the iPhone 4S and iCloud infringe its patents and creating another venue in which the iOS versus Android argument can take place.

After suing media site TechCrunch in 2008 over a controversial GPS patent, Chicago-based Earthcomber is at it again. This time it’s accusing ten online real estate companies of infringing the patent with their iPhone applications. (Note this story has been updated with Earthcomber’s response)

Chalk one up for Motorola (NYSE: MMI) and Android: the International Trade Commission has determined that it doesn’t violate any of the patents asserted by Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) in its case against the company Google (NSDQ: GOOG) hopes to buy for patent protection.

BlackBerry maker RIM’s official line has been that it is not for sale, but this week, persistent rumors that it could get bought anyway got another fillip, in the form of a report that the handset maker has hired Goldman Sachs to advise it.

More than two-thirds of the Android phones sold on the U.S. market are now contributing to Microsoft’s bottom line. The company signed yet another mobile patent licensing deal Thursday, this time with LG.

Eastman Kodak announced late Tuesday that it was suing Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) and HTC for allegedly infringing four of its imagining patents. The timing of the suits may be strategic as the struggling camera maker has been desperately trying to sell part of its patent portfolio to stave off a…

In a possible sign of trouble for the booming mobile payment industry, a semiconductor firm filed patent lawsuits against Starbucks (NSDQ: SBUX), Expedia and Capital One over applications like “Starbucks for iPhone.”

Correction: An earlier version of this article noted Motorola (NYSE: MMI) Mobility’s revenue in “millions” not “billions”. It has now been corrected. We regret the error. Not brilliant news for Motorola Mobility and its would-be buyer, Google: the handset maker today issued preliminary Q4 results that will fall short of…

Apple’s aggressive mobile patent strategy is apparently reserved for its offensive maneuvers. It has agreed to settle a patent lawsuit brought by Elan Microelectronics for $5 million and a cross-licensing agreement, according to a report.

In a surprise development, Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) has quietly resolved a lawsuit that alleges its Kindle Fire violates four patents related to touchscreen technology.