On Jan. 10, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington ruled Google did not infringe a patent owned by Google's Motorola Mobility unit related to mobile-phone technology, according to Bloomberg. The ruling, which is available online, underscores a victory already won by Apple at the U.S. International Trade Commission, according to Bloomberg.

Motorola Mobility had claimed Apple infringed six of its patents before the ITC. The sole patent it appealed involved a way to control how applications receive data on a wireless device. The panel of the Federal Circuit said the ITC had been correct in its ruling that Apple used a different technique. Its decision was based on language in the patent as well as technical realities of the two patented techniques. Motorola Mobility has also asserted this same patent against Microsoft.

Google inherited the case in question when it purchased Motorola Mobility in 2012, a business decision made in part to acquire the company's extensive intellectual property portfolio that included more than 17,000 patents. According to Bloomberg, the company hoped its ownership of these patents would help quell allegations that it was infringing upon those of other mobile-phone manufacturers with certain features of its Android operating system.