Microsoft's Xbox Infringes Motorola Mobility Patents: ITC judge

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Microsoft infringed Motorola Mobility's patents in making its popular Xbox gaming consoles, a judge for the International Trade Commission ruled on Monday.

International Trade Commission Judge David Shaw said that Microsoft infringed four patents and did not infringe on a fifth in the complaint.

The full commission will review the judge's decision and issue a final ruling in August.

The patents in the complaint are for technology like wireless connections for the Xbox to the Internet and video compression to speed transmission.

Motorola Mobility asked for the infringing devices to be barred from importation into the United States.

Motorola Mobility, which is being acquired by Google, had filed related lawsuits against Microsoft in district courts in Wisconsin and Florida.

Microsoft said it would press on with the case. "We remain confident the commission will ultimately rule in Microsoft's favor," Microsoft said in an emailed statement.

Motorola Mobility said it was pleased with the decision. "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."

The ITC, a U.S. trade panel that investigates patent infringement involving imported goods, is a popular venue for patent lawsuits because it can bar the importation of infringing products and because its cases are ruled on quickly.

The case is at the International Trade Commission, No. 337-752.

(Reporting By Diane Bartz; Editing by Gary Hill, Bernard Orr)

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Comments

[Krumbum]

12:22 PM on 04/24/2012

Technology and software patents are hopelessly broken. They need to be restricted to actual physical products that are actually made. It's the patenting of ideas and methods that has taken us down the litigation rabbit hole.

[Spectator404]

02:02 PM on 04/24/2012

That's baloney.

What if you, as an independent inventor, invent something that you want to discuss making a physical product from with a bona fide manufacturer? What is there to prevent the manufacturer from stealing your invention after you discuss it with them?

Sure, you MIGHT be able to get them to sign a non-disclosure agreement. But usually, bona fide manufacturers don't want to do that.

[Krumbum]

03:16 PM on 04/24/2012

Patenting an idea about a touch screen that let's one input information using more than one finger at a time doesn't make you an inventor and it isn't an idea worthy of protection. And yes, that's an actual example of the types of patents we are currently talking about. No one has invented anything.

Hell, there's even a lawsuit in process now from a guy who claims to have invented the internet because he patented the idea of one computer accessing data remotely on another computer. All of it without any technical or precise details. How about the recent patent lawsuit over "one-click" shopping. Someone patented the idea of push one button click through shopping--not the actual code to accomplish the task (which of course would be covered by copyright) but just the idea. It's a broken system that needs some serious reform.

[nadohawk]

07:50 PM on 05/07/2012

Exactly. There are companies who exists just so they can set up patents and sue the companies that use a technology remotely related to the patent.

[tpondering]

11:31 AM on 04/24/2012

This needs to be made into a video game.

[mr whiteffolks]

10:26 AM on 04/24/2012

Microsoft infringing on someone's patent ! Say it isn't so ! The tech business is as dirty and shady as the music business since nobody really created anything that they've made money on !

[thereisonlyoneparty]

10:07 AM on 04/24/2012

Technology patents are a joke.

Many cover existing technology. Some are just duplicates of other patents.

This garbage just makes technology more expensive for end users. It does nothing to protect innovation.

[aden oconnor]

09:39 AM on 04/24/2012

Seriously? So, Moto supposedly owns the market on wireless connectivity?-- PLEASE! get a life Moto.

[tumbler snapper]

11:02 AM on 04/24/2012

No. They own a patent that includes several claims directed to wireless connectivity.

[Peoplesrepublicofusa]

12:24 PM on 04/24/2012

This just in.......Al Gore has filed suit against the world for their use of his internet.

[Unindoctrinated]

05:34 PM on 04/24/2012

Don't be a fool. Gore never claimed he invented the internet. He was severely misquoted.

[carmaction]

09:18 AM on 04/24/2012

Oh, Microsoft. You smarmy tricksters.

COUNTERLAWSUIT'D

[Daburn]

04:43 AM on 04/24/2012

This is a pawn battle compared to the much larger chessboard of the patent litigation field. google has far worse enemies than microsoft anyway. Balmer, Job's ghost, and Ellison are all waging patent war on them right now, trying to strangle the platform out of the market. All of which pale in comparison to google's true enemy, Zuck, whose patent fight with google hasn't even begun while he focuses on an out-of-left-field enemy in yahoo. I almost feel sorry for google at times. Everyone is out for their blood, and their spawnling cell phone manufacturing companies are getting beaten down for the alliance as well. Samsung in particular is getting crushed lately.

[Xero Droll]

12:35 PM on 04/24/2012

Meanwhile, in China......

[duckzilla]

01:35 AM on 04/24/2012

just curious what do sony and nintendo do different with their wireless setup on their consoles that spared them from getting sued?

[speedntktz]

03:09 AM on 04/24/2012

They have not sued Motorola for patent infringement. That's what the do (or don't do) different. The suit was a retaliation from Moto after MS brought suit against them.

[Angelus2007]

10:29 AM on 04/24/2012

They may have paid a fee to use them. Or they may be using a different form of compression.

[Unindoctrinated]

05:36 PM on 04/24/2012

They did actually pay for it. Microsoft used without permission and never even asked to license it. They've been doing it since the ripped Dos from IBM. Generally though it seems a huge number of IT companies infringe first then try to out-lawyer each other later.

[HunterHikes]

10:50 PM on 04/23/2012

Microsoft infringes on another company's patents?

I'm shocked.

[ProfessorZeitgeist]

09:33 PM on 04/23/2012

patent infringement on information technology advancements are useless. The fastest way to advance technology is to collaborate through open source projects. Protecting IP's only make your IP obsolete faster since no one can improve on it but the patent holder. Another distorted value of the monetary economic system.

[tumbler snapper]

10:54 AM on 04/24/2012

"...Protecting IP's only make your IP obsolete faster since no one can improve on it but the patent holder..." Not so. And if you make improvements that change the invention relative to the scope of the claims, it may not be protected by your own patent.

[ProfessorZeitgeist]

11:26 AM on 04/24/2012

All ideas are serial. There is no such thing as a novel idea. The entire concept of intellectual property is an illusion. That's why it's so complicated to legislate it. The entire information technology industry is built on a digital foundation. The very nature of digital transmission is making a copy. This puts the entire IP protection industry in a lose lose situation since it's impossible to make a digital transmission without making a copy. That's why i say it's useless. The invention of IP started with Walt Disney and should have died when he did.

[JohnTheMac]

09:11 PM on 04/23/2012

See what happens? No mention of Apple, and it's like no one cares.
Several hours, and I'm the only comment?

So, stop complaining about "all the damn Apple stories that seem like advertisements!".

[Silverwolf72]

09:52 PM on 04/23/2012

I completely agree!
People love to hate on Apple

[HunterHikes]

10:51 PM on 04/23/2012

I don't know anyone who hates Apple? I know a lot of people who have never used one and trash talk about it out of ignorance.

[clarke90]

02:00 PM on 04/24/2012

Funny, there was no mention of apple until you brought it up. Why do you find it important to any of this?

[JohnTheMac]

02:08 PM on 04/24/2012

It is funny, because when there is an article on anything Apple, people criticize the fact that there are so many articles on Apple. "OH not another one! There are 4 articles on the Tech page!" etc, etc. Yet, those articles bring comments and interaction numbering in the hundreds.
This article has less than 30 comments in 30 hours.
Also, it's an article dealing with IP and patent lawsuits, which some people think Apple invented, and yet they are not involved.