Microsoft and Motorola's mud fight

In case you haven't known, there's a feud going on between Microsoft and Motorola over Mobility Patents. Back on April 24th, an ITC Judge made a ruling against Microsoft over this. An International Trade Commission (ITC) judge has ruled that Microsoft violated several patents held by Motorola Mobility when it made its Xbox 360 console. ITC Judge David Shaw said that Microsoft infringed on four of five patents that Motorola filed on its complaint - International Trade Commission, No. 337-752. The patents in the complaint include technology like wireless connections to the Internet and video compression to speed up transmission of data, amongst others. Motorola Mobility has asked the ITC to bar importation of the infringing devices into the United States. The full commission will review Judge David Shaw's decision and issue a final ruling sometime in August. Microsoft issued a statement saying that it will ultimately prevail in the case: "We remain confident the commission will ultimately rule in Microsoft's favor," a company spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement. Motorola Mobility said it was pleased with the decision by the judge: "Microsoft continues to infringe Motorola Mobility's patent portfolio, and we remain confident in our position," the company said in a statement. "We look forward to the full commission's ruling in August." A final ruling in August. This could make or break Microsoft, but not just on the X-Box 360. It may also affect them on Windows 7, the OS that replaced Vista in 2009. But of course, in Germany, an injunction against Microsoft just went out and slapped the big company in the face. 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. Wait a minute. Did you see what's in bold? It seems the good ol US of A has Microsoft's back. But how did we manage that? Well look no further. A United States District Court has ruled that Microsoft can continue to sell Windows and Xbox 360 products in Germany - even if a German court rules in favor of an injunction request filed by Motorola. The dust up (as reported by Ars Technica) is related to a patented technology essential to the H.264 video standard, which Microsoft uses in its software products. To say the ruling is unusual would be an understatement because a U.S. Court is basically interfering in a region it doesn't have any jurisdiction over. Judge James Robart of the US District Court for the Western District of Washington granted Microsoft a temporary restraining order after agreeing with the company's argument that allowing the German Court's injunction to go forward might compel Microsoft to negotiate a license under German law. In turn, the US court would lose its opportunity to make its own ruling on similar licensing issues. Microsoft argued that the US court should be the one to rule on the issue because Microsoft filed its lawsuit against Motorola over the terms of a licensing deal before Motorola filed its lawsuit in Germany. This is just the American courts enforcing Good Ol Conservative values on Motorola and Germany. In fact, we should go tell Germany "It's just the free market doing its job," even if said market can interfere with another country's free market. Works Cited: Game Politics Link 1 BBC News Game Politics Link 2