APPLE Inc. has asked EU anti-trust regulators to step in and settle a technology patent dispute between the company and Motorola Mobility, according to Motorola Mobility.

The move came after regulators on both sides of the Atlantic said they would intervene to prevent companies from gouging rivals when they license patents essential to ensuring different communications devices work together.

“On Feb. 17, 2012, the company received a letter from the European Commission notifying it that the Commission has received a complaint against Motorola Mobility Inc. by Apple Inc. regarding the enforcement of MMI’s standards-essential patents against Apple allegedly in breach of MMI’s FRAND (fair and reasonable) commitments,” Motorola Mobility said in a regulatory filing Saturday. “Apple’s complaint seeks the Commission’s intervention with respect to standards-essential patents,” it said.

Motorola Mobility, which won a preliminary injunction against Apple in Germany in December last year, accused the iPhone maker of infringing its technology patents in a Florida court last month.

Last week Google secured EU and U.S. approval to acquire Motorola Mobility for its portfolio of patents. The deal still needs clearance from regulators in China and Israel.

The Commission, which oversees competition matters across the 27-country EU, is investigating whether legal tactics used by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. against Apple breaches EU antitrust rules. (SD-Agencies)