Motorola wins Xbox and Windows 7 ban in Germany

[Scubbie]

BBC News - 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 against 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."

US hearing
Microsoft moved its European software distribution centre from Germany to the Netherlands last month ahead of the verdict to minimise potential disruption.
However, Motorola cannot enforce the ruling until a Seattle-based judge lifts a restraining order.

The restriction was put in place after Microsoft claimed that Motorola was abusing its Frand-commitments - a promise to licence innovations deemed critical to widely-used technologies under "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory" terms.

A hearing is scheduled for 7 May, although the judge may issue his ruling at a later date.

The German case is also likely to be considered by the European Commission.

It is carrying out two probes into whether Motorola's Frand-type patent activities amount to "an abuse of a dominant market position".

[dms05]

These actions simply make Lawyers as rich as Bankers and always finish up with an agreement to cross license all technology patented between the companies involved. Waste of time for everyone except the Lawyers who insisted their companies enforce their patents. Just ignore it, it will all go away in a few months.

[Scubbie]

Very true Dave.

It is the only way that the large companies can maintain their rights over specific patents that they developed and a nice chance to give M$ a bloody nose.

What I don't like is the ability of a court in the USA being able to prevent Germany from banning a product.

[Isitme]

As xbox and Win7 are old products now it has taken them a long time to discover they were infringing their patents.

Apple are still king of the sewers though and that's not a spelling mistake

MS have retaliated by moving a lot of there business out of Germany, which seems to be a haven for patent claims.

[Scubbie]

I am guessing that a recent update or planned update is the cause of this.

I am aware that the Xbox doesn't support .mkv files and that there was to be an update soon to change this.

If the support was a little while ago, then I guess that negotiations behind the scenes have broken down as M$ appears to consider the requested fee & terms unfair.