German court tosses Microsoft patent claim against Motorola
updated 01:55 pm EDT, Fri October 5, 2012
Ruling won't affect existing injunctions
A German court has issued a ruling that clears Motorola of infringing a Microsoft patent, preventing the latter company from enforcing a fourth sales ban in the ongoing case. Microsoft had accused the company of infringing a patent that describes a radio interface for application interoperability between different handsets.
The ruling does not affect the existing decisions, which have been in Microsoft's favor. Motorola currently faces three separate sales injunctions in Germany.
"It remains that Motorola is broadly infringing Microsoft's intellectual property, and we hope it will join the vast majority of Android device makers by licensing Microsoft's patents," Microsoft corporate vice president David Howard said in a statement, as quoted by The Wall Street Journal.
The companies are currently fighting several legal battles in several countries, including the US. Most of the lawsuits are related to mobile technology patents, as part of a larger legal war between competing mobile platforms. Microsoft has struggled to grain traction in the smartphone market as it pushes its competitors to license its mobile technology.
Only two of the three injunctions against Motorola products have been enforced in Germany. It remains unclear if Motorola will appeal the decision, attempt to reengineer the software to avoid infringement, license the technology, or simply cease selling the affected products.
