What does Microsoft and Apple have in common this month? Microsoft has joined Apple in filing an antitrust complaint against Motorola Mobility with the European Commission based on the grounds that Motorola has been unfairly leveraging their patents. Motorola used their patents to demand a 2.25% royalty from Apple from certain devices.

Motorola Mobility said that Apple has filed a complaint with the European Union against them accusing the company of violating a pledge to license industry-standard patents on fair terms. Motorola was notified about the complaint by the European Commission. However Motorola Mobility spokeswoman Jennifer Erickson said that the company is willing to negotiate a patent license with Apple.

Google’s $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility has been approved. However the U.S. and European Union government said that they will be ensuring that patents critical to the telecom industry would not be abused.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility is expected to close next week. This deal is just pending approval from the Justice Department. Google will gain access to 17,000 additional patents through the acquisition, which is already being used to sue Apple for 2.25% of sales royalties.

In August 2011, Pulse2 intern Riley Kennysmith wrote about how Google acquired Motorola Mobility as part of a strategic move in their patent war. Google added about 17,000 patents to their war-chest as part of the acquisition. It appears that Google is now putting their new patent portfolio to good use as they are now demanding 2.25% of Apple’s sales for licensing the use of a specific wireless-related patent. Since an agreement was not made yet, Motorola was able to successfully block the sales of the iPhone 4 and the 3G-enabled iPad in Germany through an injunction.

Apple has stopped offering older iPhone models and 3G-based iPads at their German online store today out of a response to an injunction that was won by Motorola Mobility Holdings this past December. “While some iPad and iPhone models are not available through Apple’s online store in Germany right now, customers should have no problem finding them at one of our retail stores or an authorized reseller,” stated Apple spokesman Alan Hely.

The European Union has temporarily suspended antitrust review of Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility. The EU is requesting more information about the deal. Once the antitrust authority receives additional documentation, the review will continue. The deal is expected to closed in 2012. [Bloomberg]

mFoundry is a company that powers the mobile banking solutions for over 500 banks and credit unions across the nation. The company has raised an $18 million round of funding from MasterCard, Intel Capital, Fidelity, and Motorola Mobility. mFoundry has raised a total of $40 million in funding.