Ever since Imatec's ColorSync patent infringement lawsuit against Apple was basically laughed out of court, have you felt that there's something missing from the Mac Drama landscape? Perhaps it's the gaping hole left by the departure of the threat of a multibillion-dollar penalty hanging over Apple's head; between the $1.1 billion Imatec was suing for and the possibility of treble damages if Apple was shown to have wilfully and knowingly infringed, it was a long shot, but there was a chance that Apple would be put out of business overnight. We're happy for Apple and everything, but something that exciting is hard to give up.

Well, it's not quite the same thing, but faithful viewer Shane Burgess clued us in on some fun litigation that might be hitting the courts soon-- and while it may not affect Apple's bankroll directly, it could very well have a profound impact on the company's strategy moving forward. According to the New York Times, a bankruptcy court just gave permission for a group of creditors to sue PowerPC-maker Motorola for "more than $2 billion in damages... for Iridium and another $3.5 billion for damages they suffered as investors in Iridium." Oooooh, that's gonna leave a mark!

Iridium was apparently a company that Motorola set up almost a decade ago to put a huge and expensive network of satellites into orbit and then sell mobile phones that use those satellites for communication. The company went public in 1997, but the phones never caught on, and Iridium eventually went bankrupt and left a slew of creditors in the lurch. What the bankruptcy court has decided, however, is that those creditors are now allowed to sue Motorola instead, contending that Motorola "effectively operated the company" (Motorola employees, for instance, sat on Iridium's board of directors) even after the spin-off and IPO.

Needless to say, this threat of a potential $5.5 billion loss doesn't come at a happy time for Motorola, who has been laying off employees at an alarming rate even as the company warns that it may announce its first quarterly loss in fifteen years. On the off-chance that this lawsuit manages to cripple the company badly enough to affect the future of the PowerPC, you can bet that Apple's product line would have to change pretty drastically. So no, it's no Imatec-- but it'll do in a pinch.