The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, US has ruled that Google’s Motorola Mobility unit cannot enforce a patent injunction that it obtained on Xbox 360 ban against Microsoft in Germany.
The injunction, if granted, would have barred Microsoft from providing, marketing, utilising, importing or possessing products that include the Xbox 360 and certain Windows software in Germany.
A three-judge panel questioned a Seattle judge’s order blocking Motorola’s enforcement of the sales ban it won in May this year in its lawsuit against Microsoft pending in Germany.
The panel said the lower court’s order was narrowly tailored, according to Reuters.
Microsoft corporate vice president and deputy general counsel David Howard said, "It continues to be our hope that Google and Motorola live up to their promises to standards organizations."
In 2010, Microsoft sued Motorola in the US and Motorola then filed a lawsuit in Germany.
In April this year, the US International Trade Commission had issued a preliminary ruling that Microsoft has infringed on Motorola Mobility’s patents for its Xbox gaming systems.
The claims that Motorola over-charged Microsoft and Apple for use of its patents in their products and breached antitrust rules are being investigated by the European regulators.
Microsoft is anticipated to unveil its next generation Xbox video game console next year.