February 10, 2013 at 16:55Court annulled 13 Motorola patent claims against Microsoft
Microsoft defeated Google-owned Motorola Mobility after a court canceled 13 patent claims in a multi-year H.264 licensing claim dispute. The battle in the U.S. and German courts included three patents (7,310,374, 7,310,375, and 7,310,376) that Motorola licensed to Microsoft for several products, including the Xbox 360, Windows, and Windows Phone.
The essence of the dispute, of course, is how much Microsoft should pay. Motorola wanted to get $ 4 billion a year, while Microsoft believes that this figure violates FRAND standards , suggesting that $ 1 million a year would be a more reasonable amount.
This Wednesday, Judge James Robart upheld Microsoft’s claim for partial satisfaction of the lawsuit with a 28-page decision and ruled that many of Motorola’s claims were unlawful because company patents are not well defined.
Based on the current state of affairs, Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents believes that the rate will be finalized soon, and it is likely to be close to a couple of hundred thousand dollars a year - a result that could weaken Google’s position in discussions of licensing fees with other companies, and also slightly depreciate the $ 12.5 billion Google spent on the intellectual property of Motorola Mobility.
The essence of the dispute, of course, is how much Microsoft should pay. Motorola wanted to get $ 4 billion a year, while Microsoft believes that this figure violates FRAND standards , suggesting that $ 1 million a year would be a more reasonable amount.This Wednesday, Judge James Robart upheld Microsoft’s claim for partial satisfaction of the lawsuit with a 28-page decision and ruled that many of Motorola’s claims were unlawful because company patents are not well defined.
Based on the current state of affairs, Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents believes that the rate will be finalized soon, and it is likely to be close to a couple of hundred thousand dollars a year - a result that could weaken Google’s position in discussions of licensing fees with other companies, and also slightly depreciate the $ 12.5 billion Google spent on the intellectual property of Motorola Mobility.