Motorola has been pursuing a case against Microsoft, alleging that the latter is not paying the right amount of licensing fee for using its patents. Microsoft, on the other hand, feels that Motorola’s demands are too excessive. Motorola had asked a court to ban Xbox 360 consoles in U.S. but the court has ruled against that.
Microsoft has made use of video-coding and connectivity technologies in Xbox 360, technologies which have originally been patented by Motorola. Motorola now wants Microsoft to cough up $4 billion per year to make use of these patents, a demand which Microsoft holds is ludicrous. It is willing to pay up to $1 million per year which, it believes, is fair enough.
Motorola sought the court to ban the sales of Xbox 360 units both in Germany and the U.S. Although it was able to secure a favorable ruling in Germany, Motorola has been unable to have the ban implemented. And now, the company’s efforts in the U.S. have also met a similar fate.
Judge James Robart overlooked the case in the U.S. In his ruling, he ruled that the chief contention between the two entities is not whether or not Microsoft should pay for the patent but rather how much the company pay should.
So the two should resolve the issue and once a fair sum is determined, Microsoft will be made to pay the outstanding amount. The court will attempt to determine a fair licensing fee based on industry norms and then decide what amount Microsoft must pay to Motorola.
Source: BBC
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