de Motorola wins Xbox and Windows 7 ban in Germany

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Motorola wins Xbox and Windows 7 ban in Germany

Motorola Mobility has been granted an injunction against the distribution of key Microsoft products in Germany.

The sales ban covers the Xbox 360 games console, Windows 7 system software, Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player.

It follows a ruling that Microsoft had infringed two patents necessary to offer H.264 video coding and playback.

A US court has banned Motorola from enforcing the action until it considers the matter next week.

The handset maker is in the process of being taken over by Google.

Appeal

This is just one of several cases involving about 50 intellectual properties that the smartphone maker has claimed that Microsoft should have licensed.

Microsoft has said that if it met all of Motorola's demands it would face an annual bill of $4bn (?2.5bn). Motorola disputes the figure.

A statement from Motorola said: "We are pleased that the Mannheim Court found that Microsoft products infringe Motorola Mobility's intellectual property. As a path forward, we remain open to resolving this matter. Fair compensation is all that we have been seeking for our intellectual property."

Microsoft said it planned to appeal the German ruling.

"This is one step in a long process, and we are confident that Motorola will eventually be held to its promise to make its standard essential patents available on fair and reasonable terms for the benefit of consumers who enjoy video on the web," a spokesman said.

"Motorola is prohibited from acting on today's decision, and our business in Germany will continue as usual while we appeal this decision and pursue the fundamental issue of Motorola's broken promise."

Source: BBC News

[Wakers]

These patent wars are getting ridiculous now.. The laws around them seriously need to be completely overturned and rewritten.

[pack34]

Since Google owns Motorola, I wonder if they're using Moto's H.264 patents to push their own. Weren't they pushing their own WebM codec a while ago? Making H.264 less appealing could make WebM more attractive.

[ATLien_0]

Maybe someone else can enlighten me on this, but don't patent lawyers do patent searches during product development?

I interned last summer at a design firm, and during out design phase we me with the companies patent lawyer to discuss any patent issues.

My theory is that any company that comes up with an idea such as Microsoft/Xbox team in this case should have been the ones to discuss with Motorola about the patents during the development AND if Motorola does not respond by the time the product is out, Motorola would have lost out.

Im just sick of companies waiting 3 years after a product is out to jump all over the patent issues

[MrA]

Since Google owns Motorola, I wonder if they're using Moto's H.264 patents to push their own. Weren't they pushing their own WebM codec a while ago? Making H.264 less appealing could make WebM more attractive.

Two points:

a) Google does not own Motorola. They have no control over the company (and can't) until the acquisition is finalised, which won't happen until all regulators have approved the deal

b) These lawsuits existed before Google announced their intent to buy Motorola.