In Microsoft-Motorola Patent Fight, German Court Bans Xbox, Windows 7

* German court backs plaintiff Motorola

* Decision has no immediate effect due to U.S. ruling

* EU investigating Motorola's patent enforcement (Adds further details on court ruling)

By Harro Ten Wolde

MANNHEIM, Germany, May 2 (Reuters) - A court in Mannheim ruled on Wednesday that Microsoft infringed Motorola Mobility's patents and ordered Microsoft to remove its popular Xbox 360 gaming consoles and Windows 7 operating system software from the German market.

However, Microsoft said that the ruling did not mean that its products would be taken off retailers' shelves because a U.S. district court in Seattle has granted Microsoft a preliminary injunction against Motorola to prevent the phone maker from enforcing any German court order.

"Motorola is prohibited from acting on today's decision, and our business in Germany will continue as usual while we appeal this decision and pursue the fundamental issue of Motorola's broken promise," Microsoft said in a response to the ruling.

The Mannheim case is related to the larger smartphone patent war being fought by Apple, Microsoft and mobile phone makers who use Google's Android software such as Samsung .

German judge Holger Kircher said on Wednesday Microsoft breached an agreement with Motorola Mobility, which is in the process of being bought by Google, in using certain video-compression software in products including Windows 7 and Xbox.

But following complaints by Microsoft and Apple the EU competition authorities have opened two investigations into whether Motorola has been over-charging for the use of its patents in their rival products.

Technology companies have invested billions of dollars in buying up patent portfolios that they can use defensively or offensively against rivals and spent still more money litigating in the United States and Europe.

Last week a judge for the U.S. International Trade Commission also said Microsoft infringed Motorola Mobility's patents for technology used in the Xbox's wireless internet connection and video compression functions.


LITTLE IMPACT

However, Wednesday's ruling is also expected to have little immediate impact for Microsoft's wider European distribution operations as it has already moved its regional software distribution centre to the Netherlands from Germany in anticipation of adverse judgments in the patent trial.

Germany has in recent months become a major battleground in the global patent war between makers of mobile phones, tablet computer devices and their operating software as court actions there have proved to be relatively cheap and speedier than in other jurisdictions.

Earlier this year German courts forced Korea's Samsung Electronics to stop selling its Galaxy 10.1 tablet in the country and told Apple Inc to de-activate "push" notification features for some customers in Germany. (Editing by Greg Mahlich)

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Comments

[Jack Davies]

08:55 PM on 05/03/2012

And WHY would a US district court have anything to say about what happens in Germany?

[flashfyre]

03:41 AM on 05/03/2012

The trail of companies that Microsoft has violated over the years, and all the people MS hurt, are smiling.

[jgeurian21]

09:12 AM on 05/03/2012

You say violated I say outsmarted. Usually it is the loser that says the winner did something unfair.

[flashfyre]

11:28 PM on 05/03/2012

Crime may sound smart to you...not sure.

Here's the list I recall. Many of the cases were outright theft or violations of law. Novell, STAC, IBM, Borland, Apple, Sun, and a litany of smaller companies.

Generally MS signed contracts, took the technology, stopped communicating, then eventually settled.

[jsgaetano]

03:11 AM on 05/03/2012

These companies need to stop trying to win in the courts rather than the marketplace. The tech industry's jihad against Microsoft has only screwed over consumers.

[James Lopez]

01:17 AM on 05/03/2012

A "losers pay" system would help, but I honestly have no idea how we will educate the patent office and judicial system to the point where they can handle these issues intelligently.

[jsgaetano]

03:12 AM on 05/03/2012

There are still moral hazards in a loser pays scenario. In fact, I'd say for those reasons alone it would be terrible policy. A wronged person would be economically destroyed by the prospect of even trying to defend themselves against a corporation stealing their intellectual property.

[James Lopez]

11:31 AM on 05/04/2012

Uh... that's how it is right now chief.

Loser pays goes directly towards solving that problem. If you are robbed you can defend your IP for free, and you can defend yourself from frivolous IP suits for free.

[novelist2000]

12:33 AM on 05/03/2012

Is this the 1st April? "because a U.S. district court in Seattle has granted Microsoft a preliminary injunction against Motorola to prevent the phone maker from enforcing any German court order."
Since when do people in Seattle have jurisdiction in Germany? Are they above the judges in Germany, and if so who made that decision?

Maybe next a court in Timbuktu will set an Indian court order aside. Or a court in Manchuria will set aside a court order from Hawaii.

[JFetch]

09:25 PM on 05/02/2012

What is wrong with Germany? They are the laughing stock of the rest of the world when it comes to technology court cases.

[jsgaetano]

03:14 AM on 05/03/2012

They hate Microsoft. Look at how much taxpayer money Munich squandered in their epic failed project of replacing all Microsoft products in their municipal network.

[jgeurian21]

09:11 AM on 05/03/2012

And yet this is the same court that said Apple violated Moto's patents and required Apple to disable push emails.

[jaredbrain]

09:21 PM on 05/02/2012

These companies will never sue each other into innovation.

[PSoolside]

08:45 PM on 05/02/2012

OK Huffington you've had all day to replace the PS3 controller shown with Microsoft product. Sony gets enough bad news without being the dominate image on a story they have nothing to do with.

[OC Surfer]

08:26 PM on 05/02/2012

All these patent laws are B.S. "Intellectual property" is an oxymoron.

[Enclosed Visions]

09:31 PM on 05/02/2012

someone owns the word "Oxymoron" now we must both pay the royalties. We can't all be smart, but we can all be legally tricky. Thank you broken legal system. Someone also owns Oxymoron dot Com. Why!

[speedntktz]

08:02 PM on 05/02/2012

Anyone have a list of the actual patent involved in the suit? Really like to know what MS is doing any different than Sony, Apple, WD or Roku.

[Andrew Wojtkowski]

09:40 PM on 05/02/2012

IIRC, Microsoft is the only company that Motorola is asking for $ for use of the patent. Everyone else gets it for free... and that's apparently Motorola's right.

[speedntktz]

11:19 PM on 05/02/2012

actually interested in specifically what patents are in dispute. Non-essential patents it is acceptable to do this, but standards based patents handled in this fashion violate FRAND. A signal that cooperative devlopment and progress will come to a stop.

[jsgaetano]

03:16 AM on 05/03/2012

The biggest problem is the EU has an entire subset of the law which only applies to Microsoft. Look at how the EU prosecuted MS for including a browser with Windows, even though Teh Lunix and OSX (and now mobile os's) bundle browsers. Same thing with media players. Those are apps no modern operating system would come without... yet the EU prohibits Microsoft from bundling one with Windows.

[aligatorhardt]

07:48 PM on 05/02/2012

Another lying headline wastes reader's time- no surprise included.

[Xero Droll]

07:46 PM on 05/02/2012

The Chinese will probably end up buying Motorola and MS, just like they did IBM. That should put an end to this nonsense.

[Let Them Eat Dog]

07:35 PM on 05/02/2012

That controller in the picture is actually a prototype Xbox 720 controller. It has a touch screen display (not shown), and heat sensors on the back.

[Justtheobvious]

07:33 PM on 05/02/2012

Corporations own governmens. Why not use that to form monopolies?

[Let Them Eat Dog]

07:28 PM on 05/02/2012

Germany, first WW1 and WW1, And now this....