Starting tomorrow, getting an Android-based smartphone or tablet from Motorola could be a little bit harder in the US. The US International Trade Commission has ordered a ban on shipments of 18 of those products to the United States, starting on Wednesday.
Ars Technica reports that Motorola (now owned by Google) claims to have some kind of plan to keep its products flowing into the US. So far, it has been silent on what those plans might be. At issue is an ITC decision that ruled 18 of Motorola's Android products use ActiveSync patents owned by Microsoft.
Motorola proposed a settlement of this issue, but the terms were not to Microsoft's liking. Motorola and Google could now decide to simply pay a royalty to Microsoft for all of the devices affected by the ban. It could also issue a software update that gets around the patents or simply remove the feature that uses the ActiveSync patents.
The affected devices include the Motorola Atrix, Backflip, Bravo, Charm, Cliq, Cliq 2, Cliq XT, Defy, Devour, Droid 2, Droid 2 Global, Droid Pro, Droid X, Droid X2, Flipout, Flipside, and Spice smartphones, along with the Motorola Xoom tablet.
Microsoft has signed a number of companies that make Android-based smartphones and tablets for patent royalty deals. Motorola is the biggest of those companies that have yet to sign a similar deal.
Source: Ars Technica
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