Apple patents legal bid dismissed

A suit by Apple claiming that Motorola Mobility, now owned by Google, is seeking unreasonably high licence fees for the use of patents on wireless technology has been thrown out by a US judge.

The suit in Madison, Wisconsin, is part of a world-spanning battle between Apple and Google, whose Android software powers the smartphones that compete with Apple's iPhone.

Google bought Motorola Mobility, a once pioneering maker of mobile phones, this summer to gain control of its patents.

In the suit filed last year, Apple claimed that Motorola was seeking a license fee of 2.25% of the price of devices that infringe on Motorola's patents, including the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Motorola is obliged by standards-setting bodies to offer licences at "reasonable" rates.