Apple has turned to federal courts in California to request an order that would prevent Motorola (News - Alert) Mobility from starting a lawsuit against it regarding a patent infringement because of its collaboration with Qualcomm for chips in its products, particularly the iPhone (News - Alert) 4S. Apple expressed its concern about Motorola's cooperation with Qualcomm and fears that the company could sue it for patent infringement within the US, and with good reason: Motorola sued Apple in Germany for the same reason.

Apple (News - Alert) mentioned Motorola's attempt to sue in its complaint filed on Friday to the United States District Court in California. Motorola allegedly filed a lawsuit against Apple because of patent infringement involving European Patent No. 1010336, also known as the “336” patent.

The company said that Apple's iPhone 4S breaches its licensing agreement with Qualcomm (News - Alert). Apple also uses Qualcomm for the chips in its iPhone. Motorola also filed a patent with the US Patent Office (No. 6,359,898), which describes the same contract it has with Qualcomm, according to Apple's statement.

Motorola's argument in Germany was that Apple's infringement of the “336” patent comes from the inability to follow General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) standards established by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI (News - Alert)) without using the patent Motorola filed.

Apple's argument is that Motorola makes it difficult for other companies to stand tall in light of its litigation that goes against the FRAND (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory) policy. Motorola already filed a lawsuit against Apple in the United States, regarding patent No. 6,359,898, for the same reasons in the United States District Court in Illinois' northern district.

Germany might fall back on its original court decision against Apple if the California district court makes a ruling in Apple's favor, according to patent analyst Florian Mueller. Apple only requests that the court rules in favor of its continued use of Qualcomm's services and does not intend to cause Motorola its loss of the same use, involving the Qualcomm MDM6610 chip.