The US District Court Judge James Robart has denied Motorola Mobility’s request for an injunction on products manufactured by Microsoft in response to mobile maker’s claim that the products violate its H.264 patents.
Motorola Mobility claimed $4bn in payment per year for use of its connectivity and video-coding patents while Microsoft argued that the technologies are worth $1m a year.
The ruling also allows sale of Microsoft’s Xbox and Windows, along with other products in the US, while blocking Motorola from barring Microsoft product sales in Germany.
Robart’s ruling is part of a broader case which will not be decided by the court until next year.
Robart said in ruling that Motorola asserted patents at issue in this litigation are standard essential patents of the H.264 standard and are included in Motorola’s H.264 standard essential patent portfolio.
"The effect of this court’s decision would also bar an injunction for the assertion of any Motorola-owned 802.11 standard essential patents against Microsoft," Robart said.
The judge ruled that the patents in question, related to 802.11 wireless networking and the H.264 video standard, are of the standard essential variety and Motorola has failed to show that any future monetary harms would not be sufficient should it overcome in the case.
In October 2012, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that Motorola Mobility cannot implement a patent injunction that it achieved on Xbox 360 ban against Microsoft in Germany.
In 2010 Motorola alleged that the US based software maker infringed some of its patented technologies in Windows and the Xbox 360 and also seek sales ban of those products in the US and in Germany.
