A German regional court ruled that Motorola Mobility Android-based devices infringed Microsoft’s patents relating to transmission of long text messages by displaying multiple SMS messages.
The court has issued an injunction against Motorola Mobility mobile phones, though it found that it has not violated the second patent related to switching language option on their Android phone without requiring to install a different version of the same application for each language.
After the legal victory, Microsoft can enforce a ban on the sale of Motorola devices in Germany, but this would require the former to post a $31.3m bond first.
Microsoft deputy general counsel David Howard said, "We’re pleased the court agreed today that Motorola has infringed Microsoft’s intellectual property, and we hope Motorola will be willing to join other Android device makers by taking a license to our patents,"
The patent in question covers "communicating multi-part messages between cellular devices using a standardized interface."
Motorola, now a subsidiary of Google, said: "We expect a written decision from the court on June 1 and upon review, will explore all options including appeal."
It is not yet clear whether Microsoft would enforce the ban, as the company is reportedly expecting a broad licensing agreement.
The judgement follows a week after an International Trade Commission-ordered import ban on Android-based Motorola devices that infringe on another Microsoft patent for "generating meeting requests and group scheduling from a mobile device."
