Microsofts Xbox 360 should be banned from import and sales in the United States for violating Motorola patents, a U.S. International Trade Commission judge ruled.
The Xbox 360 violates four Motorola patents, according to ITC Administrative Law Judge David Shaw, Wired reports. Shaw made his initial ruling against Microsoft in April, and now recommends a ban on sales and import of the game console.
But dont expect the Xbox 360 to vanish from store shelves anytime soon. Shaws ruling still faces approval or modifications by the ITCs board of commissionerswith a deadline of August 23and even if they agree completely with Shaw, they must still get a sign off from the Obama administration within 60 days.
The patent battle between Microsoft and Motorola spills beyond the ITC as well, and involves more than just the Xbox 360. Motorola successfully sued Microsoft for patent infringement in Germany, but a separate Microsoft lawsuit against Motorola in Seattle prevents Motorola from enforcing a sales ban there, at least temporarily. Thats because Motorolas patents deal with the H.264 codec for online video, which is a standard that Microsoft says should be licensed on fair and reasonable terms. (Heres a post at FOSS Patents if you want to bury yourself in the technicalities.) Meanwhile, Microsoft has won its own import ban against 18 Android phones by Motorola, in a separate patent infringement ruling by the ITC.
In other words, its a big, sloppy mess that isnt going to be resolved without a heap of time, money and lawyers. The ideal outcome for consumers would be a broad cross-licensing agreement that would allow the Xbox 360 and Motorola phones to co-exist. But Microsoft is already getting hefty patent ransoms from other Android phone makers, and likely doesnt want to let Motorola off the hook too easily, especially now that its owned by Google.
In the meantime, keep enjoying your tech products as usualand maybe pray that the patent gods dont take them away.
Read more:
Xbox 360 Should Be Banned from U.S. for Violating Patents, Judge Says | Techland | TIME.com
