Motorola Mobility Mum After Appeals Court Rules In Favor of Microsoft
Microsoft was “pleased” that a three-judge panel at the 9th U.S. Appeals Court ruled that Motorola Mobility can’t enforce a German court order barring Microsoft from selling Xbox products in Germany, said David Howard, Microsoft deputy general counsel. Motorola Mobility, recently purchased by Google, didn’t immediately comment.
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The Friday decision written by Judge Marsha Berzon prevents Motorola Mobility from enforcing an injunction in Germany until the Google division’s “use of standard essential patents can be closely examined,” Howard said Monday. It “continues to be” Microsoft’s “hope that Google and Motorola live up to their promises to standards organizations,” he said.
Motorola Mobility had promised to make its patents available to Microsoft and other companies “on fair and reasonable terms,” Howard said in April. That was after Judge James Robart of U.S. District Court, Seattle, ruled that Motorola Mobility couldn’t enforce the German injunction (CED April 13 p8).
Microsoft sued Motorola Mobility in 2010 in the U.S., claiming the company was trying to charge fees that were too high for patents licensed under fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms. Motorola Mobility countersued that year in the U.S. and later requested an injunction in Germany that would bar Microsoft from selling Windows and Xbox 360 products there. Motorola opposed a Microsoft motion for a temporary restraining order that led to the ruling by Robart.
The 9th Circuit concluded that Robart “did not abuse” his “discretion in determining that Microsoft’s contract-based claims” would, if decided in favor of the company, “determine the propriety of the enforcement by Motorola of the injunctive relief obtained in Germany,” Berzon said in the Friday opinion. “Under the unique circumstances of this case, the district court’s narrowly tailored preliminary injunction was not an abuse of discretion."
In disputing the allegations made by Microsoft, Motorola Mobility said in late 2010 that it had sent letters to Microsoft with what Motorola claimed was a standard demand for a 2.25 percent royalty on the end price of products that use Motorola Mobility technology, including Xbox and Windows products. Motorola Mobility said in April that as a result of a hearing that month, Microsoft “committed to take a license under” Motorola Mobility’s patents “essential to certain standards, in the event the court determines that Microsoft is entitled to” a reasonable and non-discriminatory based license. “Our focus from the outset has been to receive fair value for our intellectual property based on Microsoft’s use of” Motorola Mobility’s patented technology, Motorola Mobility said.