史蒂夫•乔布斯生前就曾放话，要对谷歌（Google）恶意剽窃iPhone的行为发动“热核战争”，到目前为止，苹果都是通过代理人与对手交锋，在全球各地的法院，针对安卓（Android）手机与平板电脑制造商提起了几十场诉讼。

    如今，颇具讽刺意味的是，谷歌也反过来指控苹果剽窃它的专利。而且，谷歌并不针对苹果的代理，而是直接向美国国际贸易委员会（U.S. International Trade Commission，简称ITC）起诉苹果公司。

    根据公司提供给彭博社（Bloomberg）与《华尔街日报》（Wall Street Journal）的新闻稿，诉讼称苹果公司的iPhone、iPad和iPod Touch侵犯了谷歌的七项专利。约一年前，谷歌收购摩托罗拉移动（Motorola Mobility），并获得了该公司的1.7万项专利，其中就包括这次诉讼中涉及的七项专利。

    谷歌旗下的摩托罗拉部门发言人称：“我们希望能够解决专利问题。但苹果拒绝授权合作，我们别无选择，只好被迫采取行动捍卫公司和我们工程师的创新成果。”

    目前，起诉书的具体内容尚未公开，而且关于苹果公司侵权的专利，谷歌的表述模糊不清，只是说并不涉及行业内不得不使用的专利权。之前，摩托罗拉曾就这些专利权对苹果提起过诉讼，但都以失败告终。（点击查看详情）

    据科技博客TechCrunch作者弗雷德里克•拉德诺斯称，诉状中的七项专利分别涉及位置提醒、电子邮件通知、视频回放和Siri语音服务功能等，而且这次起诉的严重程度可能会导致苹果公司生产的所有iOS产品被禁止进口到美国。

    犬儒主义者对此会有什么看法？专利博客网站FOSS Patent的佛罗里尔•穆勒周六就指出，谷歌此次起诉的时间恰好选在两条坏消息到来之前：

    针对摩托罗拉移动被收购之前对苹果公司提起的诉讼，ITC计划在周四做出终审裁定。穆勒认为，裁定结果可能对苹果有利

    针对涉及数十亿美元的苹果起诉三星（Samsung）案件，陪审团计划在周三开始审议。关注该案件的大部分观察人士都认为，全球最大的安卓手机制造商在此次诉讼中的形势不容乐观。

    穆勒称，在这个节骨眼上，谷歌可能希望向其制造商合作伙伴们证明，谷歌也有不逊于苹果的专利战利器。此外，谷歌或许也在努力向华尔街证明，去年八月，公司为收购摩托罗拉移动投入的125亿美元巨资并没有打水漂。

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    So far, the "thermonuclear war" Steve Jobs promised to wage against Google (GOOG) for allegedly ripping off the iPhone has been fought through proxies -- several dozen lawsuits filed in courts around the world against the manufacturers of Android phones and tablets.

    Now, in a move rich with irony, Google has accused Apple (AAPL) of ripping off itspatents. And rather than attacking a proxy, it has filed suit directly against Cupertino in the U.S. International Trade Commission.

    The claim, according to press statements issued to Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal, is that Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch infringe seven of the roughly 17,000 patents Google inherited when it bought Motorola Mobility just over a year ago.

    "We would like to settle these patent matters," said a spokesperson for Google's Motorola division, "but Apple's unwillingness to work out a license leaves us little choice but to defend ourselves and our engineers' innovations."

    The filing has not yet been made public. and Google has been a little vague about what patents Apple may have infringed -- except to say that they are not the kind of standards-essential patents that Motorola had earlier tried and failed to use against Apple. (See here.)

    According to TechCrunch's Frederick Lardinois, the patents in question involve location reminders, e-mail notifications, video playback and Siri, and were deemed serious enough to demand an import ban against nearly every iOS product Apple makes.

    Cynics might point out, as FOSS Patent's Florial Mueller did Saturday, that Google's suit was filed only days before the expected arrival of what could be two pieces of bad legal news for Mountain View:

    • On Thursday, the ITC is scheduled to issue a final ruling on a suit Motorola Mobility brought against Apple before it was acquired -- one that Mueller thinks likely to be decided in Apple's favor

    • On Wednesday, the jury is scheduled to begin deliberations in the multi-billion dollar Apple v. Samsung trial -- a trial that most court watchers feel has not been going well for the world's largest manufacturer of Android phones.

    Google, says Mueller, may be hoping to show its manufacturing partners at this critical juncture that it has a patent war chest equal to Apple's.

    It may also be trying to to prove to Wall Street that it wasn't pouring money down the drain last August when it spent a whopping $12.5 billion to buy Motorola Mobility.